Fractured Bones
by Ravynfeather
Summary: What happened after the events with Mortuus and the Metarex? EDIT: DISCONTINUED, READ THE 38TH CHAPTER FOR MORE INFORMATION.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome back! ^_^**

**"Paper Cranes" Andrew Bayer**

** Chapter One**

_Ten Years after the Metarex were destroyed_.

Tails the Fox pulled his goggles onto the top of his head. He held his motorcycle helmet underneath his right arm and brushed some hair out of his eyes with his free hand. He looked up at the night sky, which twinkled and darkened, almost as if in greeting to the fox. Tails smiled up at the sky. "Hey, Cosmo. Hey, Shine." He looked at two specifically bright stars that sit beside each. He had dedicated the stars to his lost friends after they returned in the Blue Typhoon.

He sat on a grassy cliff that over looked a large field with grass up to his waist. His blue eyes softened under the hair that almost covered them. Tails did this almost every day, if he had the time. Just so his friends who died knew that they weren't forgotten.

Feeling especially nostalgic, Tails got up, pulled on his fingerless leather gloves, and sat down on the motorcycle he had made from scratch. He pulled his goggles down and slipped his helmet on. He revved the throttle and pushed off the ground, propelling him forwards.

Almost in silence the bike move through the peaceful countryside. Tails enjoyed the last eight years. It had taken him two years of his childhood to get over the past, though. But he was older. He knew the past can't be changed. The only direction you could move now, was forwards.

Swerving through dirt roads, he slowed to a stop in one of his garages. Setting the black helmet on the bike, he walked towards his other garage. He slid the behemoth door open, moonlight filtering in. Dust danced in the moon's shafts. Tails slowly walked in, towards the massive ship that took up most of the garage's space.

Blue Typhoon sat motionless. It was no longer in it's prime. A thick layer of dust coated the top of the ship, giving it a dirty brown look. Tails leaned against the rail that surrounded the ship. He was tempted to go inside, but he didn't want to stir up old memories.

"Tails?" The fox heard someone call him, and he turned around. Shadow the Hedgehog stood in the doorway, just a silhouette, due to the moon's light.

"Yeah?" Tails moved away from the railing. He voice was deeper now. Tails had changed quite a lot.

"There's a letter for you."

"A letter?" Tails frowned. Letters didn't come often in this town. People lived close enough to each other that you could walk over to their house. "From who?"

"Hard to say. It's sealed with wax though - Pretty formal."

Tails and Shadow walked back to the house after closing up the garage. Shadow's scars were still prominent as ever. Not exactly something people wanted to see, but Shadow learned to get over it. Tails has noticed that the black and red hedgehog been more on the bright side since...

"Is there an insignia in the wax?" Tails asked so that his mind wouldn't wander.

Shadow hesitated. "Why don't you go see for yourself." He said after a moment.

Tails frowned again. Strange. Either Shadow didn't know what an insignia was, or Shadow couldn't explain what it looked like.

Shadow opened the door, letting Tails inside the house first. In the living room, Sonic the Hedgehog and Simon the Panda sat on couches across from each other. Simon looked up at Tails. "Hey, man! Long time no see!"

"Hey, Simon, you crazy old coot." Tails waved at him. The panda that sat in front of him has aged incredibly so. He now had slight crow's feet by his eyes. He was aging gracefully, short of his mind, we he had promptly lost like a sock. "It's only been a week since you last visited."

Simon dazed off for a second, then blinked and looked at Tails again. "Hey, man! Long time no see!" He cried out.

"You've lost your mind." Tails looked at Simon skeptically.

"Who?"

"You."

"What about me?"

"You've lost your mind."

"I did?"

"Yes."

"... I'm sorry, what? I kinda dozed off there."

Tails sighed. "Bye, Simon." He walked down the hallway, towards his room. As he opened his door, he heard Simon say "Who was he talking to?"

Tails couldn't help but laugh. Every week the Panda comes here to visit and every week he seems to have lost more braincells.

On the black sheets of Tails' bed, a letter lay. It was facing up, so the wax was visible. Tails picked it up and studied the insignia in the wax. All it was, was 'K.' in cursive writing. Tails frowned. Not a signature he recognized at all.

Carefully breaking the wax, Tails opened the letter and pulled out a single piece of folded paper. He opened it and looked at the bottom for a signature. He sighed. No such luck. Who ever wrote this letter really didn't want Tails to know their identity.

He read the letter and narrowed his bright blue eyes.

The letter read:

"_Tails,_

_ Meet me at the Brown Dog Cafe tomorrow at 8 A.M.. I have something important to speak with you about. Table two._

_ K."_

Tails stared at the letter, trying to figure out who it could have been from. But no one came to mind. This person, however, went through great troubles to get the letter to Tails without anyone finding them out.

The fox set the letter down on his side table.

"So?" Shadow's voice came from the doorway. "Who's it from?"

Tails turned to face his old friend. "I'm not sure. They didn't exactly leave a lot of information for me."

"What do they want?" Shadow blinked his good eye, his arms crossed over his scarred chest. There was a single circular scar on his shoulder, where he had been shot.

"The want to speak with me about something." Tails picked the letter up and handed it to Shadow. "Do you know who it's from?"

"Well," Shadow murmured "They're obviously not from town, or they would have just come to the house to tell you this. So this person is someone from out of town. I just want to know how they know you." He handed the letter back to Tails.

"So do I..." Tails set the letter back down.

"Are you going to go?"

"To the Cafe? Yeah. I want to know who this guy is, especially since their from out of town." Tails shrugged. "We'll just have to see."

* * *

><p><strong>:D Tails... and Shadow... together in this story... both... sound incredibly hawt... ~Just saying. Also, it's legal, he's 19 now. Oh wait. Fuck... I'm only 14... TAILS YOU PEDO~<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**"Adrift" Tycho**

**"Wake" Linkin Park**

** Chapter Two**

Tails walked into the Brown Dog Cafe, telling the waiter that someone at table two was waiting for him. The waiter graciously smiled and walked him to the table, which was outside on a patio.

Tails thanked the waiter and waited until he disappeared so that he could hang be and take a look at this person before they saw him.

At the table sat a fox with long black boots the reached halfway up her calves, She had long black gloves on and a mini leather coat. To top it all off, she had a leather hat on and the collar of her coat was popped up. She also had black eye shadow on. Tails blinked. He's expected.. someone else. Not this girl. She looked too confident to send a letter to someone just as an invitation.

Walking up to the table, Tails said "I assume you're the one who sent me that letter?"

The girl looked up at Tails, blinking lilac eyes at him. "If you're Tails, then yes. I'm the one who sent the letter." She nodded at the seat in front of her. "Go ahead. Sit down."

Tails sat in the wiry seat while the girl took a sip from a coffee. She gently set the coffee and looked up at Tails.

"Who are you?" Tails asked. "How do you know me? What is so important that you have to send a letter to me just to speak with me?"

The girl waved her hand dismissively. "You will find out who I am soon enough." She said. "I need you help."

"_My_ help?" Tails looked at her skeptically. "With what?"

"I feel," The girl hedged "That that particular question's answer would be better suited said in an area with less people."

"Have secrets, do we?" Tails leaned in the chair.

"More than you know." The girl muttered. Tails didn't know if he was supposed to hear that. "I believe an appropriate place to answer your questions would be at you house."

"My house? If you wanted to talk at me house, why'd you call me to the Cafê?" Tails asked suspiciously.

"Because, Tails. I need to know that you'll help me before I answer any further questions you have." The girl leaned forward, resting her elbows on the glass table. "So? Are you going to help me, or not?"

Tails thought about it for a moment. He's been missing the rush of adventure, but he didn't know what this stranger wanted him to help her with. "I'll tell you what," He said after a moment. "You come over, say what you have to, answer what you have to, and we'll see. I don't want to help you and have it backfire somehow." Because he knows quite well how badly it hurts.

The girl contemplated this, then nodded. "Very well." She stood. "I will come to your house tonight."

"Wait, don't you want to know where I live?" Tails called after her.

"No need." She said.

Tails stared after her in confusion. What, exactly, just happened?

* * *

><p>Tails was sitting on his bed, working on a schematic that he had found the other day, when someone knocked on his door. He looked up to see Shadow.<p>

"Hey," He greeted his friend.

Shadow nodded back. "There's someone here to see you." Shadow moved out of the way and let the girl from earlier into the room. He walked back down the hallway, leaving the two alone.

Tails set the schematic down and got up. "You came."

"I did."

"So what do you need help with?" Tails asked after a moment's pause.

The girl took her leather hat off, revealing more long, golden hair that rolled down her shoulders. She looked Tails in the eye. "What I'm about to ask of you will matter to billions of people." She said. "If you accept, and we succeed, we're heroes and everyone remains alive."

"If I don't accept or if we lose?" Tails growled.

The girl hesitated. "Then all is lost and nothing will be left in the end."

"End of what?"

"The end of everything."

Tails crossed his arms and stared at her expectantly. He felt the smallest of memories pop into his head. But they were just out of his grasp, taunting him with rude gestures and quick feet.

"Tails..." The girl continued. "I... need your help to save the universe."


	3. Chapter 3

**"We will Return" Andrew Bayer**

**Wow. Short chapter.  
><strong>

** Chapter Three**

Tails stared at the girl for a moment. Was she crazy? He, nonetheless, shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you've heard of me, but I don't do this anymore. It's tempting, really, but..."

"But the last time you did it..." The girl trailed off for him. Tails felt something inside him twist. How did she know this?

"I honestly can't say I don't blame you, Tails." The girl continued. "I was hesitant myself to do this. And I knew I couldn't do it on my own, so I came to you. But, if you don't accept, Tails... Trillions of lives are potentially lost." Her lilac eyes glazed with remorse. "Believe me when I say I don't want to do this either..."

Tails narrowed his eyes. "How do you know so much about...?"

"About what happened on the Blue Typhoon? Or what happened to the Metarex?" She looked disappointed. "You really don't know who I am, huh?"

Racking his brain for answers, he shook his head lamely. "No, I don't."

The girl sighed and pulled off her gloves, grabbed a Kleen-X off from Tails' desk, and started rubbing her black eye shadow off. Then she pulled off her mini leather coat and spread her arms. She looked years younger, and totally different. "Well?"

A memory came back to Tails, slowly at first, like a sheepish child getting caught in the act. The impact of it, however, almost took his breath away.

"...Kat?"

Katherine Appallo Karma smiled. "I didn't think I looked _that_ different."

Tails was breath-taken. The girl he had known all those years ago, the one who disappeared after the events in space, was the same young lady who stood in front of Tails right now.

"Kat... Where have you been?" He demanded. "And why didn't you just tell me it was you?"

"I've been... around." She said hesitantly. "I didn't want you to know who I was yet. I just wasn't ready."

Tails quickly pulled her into an embrace. "I was beginning to think that you weren't going to come back." He hissed, then blushed and gently pushed her away.

Kat pulled her coat and gloves back on, quickly re-applying eye shadow with expert hands and a small case from her pocket. She shrugged. "I had things to do, Tails. Things that couldn't wait."

"No doubt things we could have helped you with."

"No, actually. These kinds of things only come once in a life time and are meant to be completed solo." Kat hedged. She decided to change the subject. "So?" She asked. "Are you going to help, or not?"

Tails stared hesitantly at her. "I don't know... I don't even know what the problem is."

Kat glanced over her shoulder, at the hallway, the leaned in closer to Tails. "I know this is going to sound crazy," Kat began "And possibly a little obsessive, but just hear me first." She said in a hushed tone. "I... have reason to believe Mortuus somehow didn't get destroyed. And that he's out there somewhere."

Tails looked at her skeptically. "Now I _know_ I don't want to get involved."

Kat still looked dead serious. "You will once you find out who he might have infected this time."

Tails' eyes instinctively narrowed. "Who...?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Idunno, choose a song for the first bit lol**

**Line: "Dead Bodies Everywhere" KoRn**

**Sorry if it makes no sense. If you're really confused, just PM me and I'll try to explain .3. My logic is quite strange lol  
><strong>

**Opening old scars and overused enemies? Yeah... Same plot line?**

**No.  
><strong>

** Chapter Four**

_Shine the Hedgehog walked into the room that was filled with dozens of escape pods. She dusted her hands off from the G.U.N. 'bot that had been stupid enough to get in her way. _

_ In front of her, Shadow and Maria were already in the room, waiting for her. Shadow muttered something under his breath and pulled Maria to her feet. "Let's go! Now!" He barked, moving towards the escape pods._

_ Shine hesitated, looking behind her. This time, she waited for the G.U.N. officer to troop in. _

_ On the other side of the door, the officer smashed the keypad that locked the door, opening it. The door opened silently under the wailing sirens. He walked in, gun raised._

_ Shine instantly pulled her gun, aiming it at the man._

_ "No! Shine, wait! He hasn't done anything." Maria's soft voice just was just barely audible over the sirens._

_ "Not yet." Shine growled, fingers tightening slightly around the trigger. Last time she should have done this, no matter the cost. This time around, Shine decided, things are going to end differently._

_ Shadow rested a hand uncomfortably on Shine's shoulder. "Leave him. He's insignificant, right now."_

_ "He'll be quite significant once he shoots poor Maria here." Shine hissed._

_ Shadow blinked, then looked from Shine to the officer and back. Then he narrowed his eyes. He turned to Maria and helped her into an escape pod._

_ The officer snorted, and shot at the floor by Shadow's feet, stopping the hedgehog in his tracks. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" He yelled over the sirens._

_ Shine decided to leave him. For now. But she didn't holster her gun. She and Shadow both turned back to the pods._

_"Stay where you are, or I'll shoot!" A man shouted authoritatively. Shine and Shadow both turned at the same time at looked at the man. The man's gun didn't waver in the slightest. "Stay still, you over-grown lab rats!" The man sent another warning shot in their direction, just barely missing Shine by a hair's length._

_ Shine sighed. "You brought this on yourself, human." Shine growled, aiming her gun between the man's eyes._

_ The man narrowed his eyes. "What are you going to do. Shoot m-"_

_ He didn't get to finish due to the bullet that was lodged deep into his brain tissues._

_ "Yes. Excellent suggestion." Shine holstered the gun, moving towards the pod controls. She could feel Shadow's eyes on her the whole time. After a moment, she turned to him. "What?"_

_ Shadow pointed at the blood splattered walls and the pool of scarlet that was collecting under the befallen man. "What the _hell_ was that for?"_

_ Shine set the pods' release time in two minutes. "I owed him that." She said simply, pressing 'Enter' on the controls. "Get in a pod."_

_ Shadow glared at her, then walked towards a pod, shaking his head. _

_ "Trust me, you would have done it too." Shine muttered under her breath, walking into a pod of her own._

_ Despite what she just did, she felt slightly relieved. This time, she'd been able to save Maria, though she didn't know if it were for the best. The girl might just drag the twins' progress down. But perhaps she could be trained. _

"RELEASING IN: 10. 9. 8. 7. ..." A voice called from speakers in the room.

_"Brace yourselves!" Shadow called over all the commotion._

_ Shine placed her hands of the sides of the tube, stiffening her muscles so she wouldn't be moved. Then all three pods were released. Shine looked out the pod to see Shadow staring down at the Earth that grew larger every second they spent flying towards it. Maria was sitting in the pod, staring down frightfully at the Earth as they sped towards it at break-neck speed._

_ Shine had done it. She had gotten Shadow_ and_ Maria. _

_ They entered the atmosphere. Right before Shine hit the ground, there was nothing. Just... blackness._

* * *

><p>Shine flinched and opened her eyes. She bolted upright, into a sitting position, gasping for breath. It felt like she hadn't taken a breath in ages. It took a couple of moments for her to realize her surroundings.<p>

All around her were dead bodies. Bones, corpses and blood. The area was truly apocalyptic. There were crumbling buildings and fresh blood. And she was sitting in the middle of it all.

Some of the bodies she recognized. Sonic the Hedgehog say laying face down, arms and legs sprawled out, blood staining him and his white gloves. Shadow the Hedgehog was leaning against a crumbling wall, ten gouges freshly clawed into his face, eight on his chest. Byrch the Panther was laying awkwardly on the broken cobble ground, her hood blown off. She had a huge gap where her stomach should be.

Shine even saw Cosmo, Tails, Amy, Kat, Willow, Vector, Rouge... Everyone. There were thousands of people she didn't recognize, but the ones she did had been placed around her.

"What the-?" Shine gasped, crawling away from the massive massacre in front of her. She bumped into something behind, which didn't move. She froze. Another body. She got tp her feet slowly, then turned around.

Her own body lay on the ground, wings stretched out limply.

"Oh..." Was all she managed to breath. She hesitated before kneeling down beside a wing. She gently pressed a hand against it, the soft feathers depressing beneath her gloved hand. Then they started to brush away, shedding off the wing. Shine frowned and started to brush the rest of the feathers away.

She stood, staring down at what she excavated.

Black, leathery wings tipped with sharp claws replaced the soft, innocent wings. Shine shook her head. What _was_ all this?

"Welcome back, sleepy beauty."

Shine stopped staring at the wing, and whipped around to face whoever was here. She brought her fists up by instinct.

"Whoa, calm down, there, hot-rod." The voice came again. "This is not the time to fight among us."

Shine narrowed her eyes. She recognized that voice... She tightened her hands into fists. Well, _voices_. This thing was alternating between several voices per word.

"Come out so I can see you, Mortuus." Shine called bluntly. "Why hide?"

"Hide?" Mortuus, an experiment gone completely wrong, called back. His voice dripped with hatred. "I'm not hiding, dear Shine. I am simply observing."

"Observing _what_?" Shine looked about her, trying to figure out where the experiment was.

"My most prized possession." Mortuus said simply.

Shine blinked and turned around after hearing Mortuus' voice. The grotesque monster stood behind her, his trademark grin twisted into a snarl. "Why did you bring me here, Mortuus? _How_ did you bring me here?"

"First of all, this isn't an actual place. We are trapped in a weak limbo. Secondly, if I recall correctly, it was _you_ who brought us here, Shine." Mortuus clenched his fists, his black talons not cutting into his flesh as they were pressed into his hands.

"Then what _is_ this place?" Shine hissed angrily.

The trademark grin was back. "This is my mind. Well, our mind. We are currently merged as one at the moment. Until we can both wake up, that is. We are both unconscious." Mortuus walked towards the dead Shine, stepping over the leathery wings. The real Shine brought her fists up, getting ready to deal a strong uppercut to this experiment's face.

"Oh, calm down." Mortuus snorted. "You and I can do no damage to each either while in here."

"How do you know so much about this place?" Shine growled, not letting the stance go.

Mortuus turned his huge, bony head towards Shine. "Time does seem to pass slower while you're asleep, I suppose. You wouldn't know how much time has passed."

"What? How long has it been?"

"It's been ten years, six months and twenty days."

"What? You've spent tens years here? Alone?"

Mortuus looked up into the blood-red sky. He let out a slow, memory filled sigh. "Yeah... It's been great. It's just.. It's been great. Really great."

Shine glared at him. That was the whole reason they were here in the first place - The stupid experiments hunger for isolation. He, apparently, planned on destroying every living creature in the universe simply to be a lone. Shine, personally, thought that was a stupid reason. But to every man is his own opinion. Of course, this opinion was absurdly stupid.

"So what, now? We wait forever to wake up?" Shine narrowed her eyes. She remembered her time on the A.R.K.. It was just a dream to keep her mind occupied while it waited to wake up, and yet... It felt so _real_. She thought she had actually managed to save Maria that time...

"Not exactly." Mortuus moved his head back in Shine's direction. "Now that you're awake in _here_, we can wake up in reality."

"But I thought that if I possessed you, that would be the end of us. No more Shine. No more Mortuus."

Mortuus grimaced. "I did, too. It seems that old man from the other world was wrong." Mortuus growled, referring to Chuck Thorndyke.

"Obviously..." Shine muttered.

"Now, Shine. You have one last thing to do before you are free, again." Mortuus grinned again, sending chills down Shine's back.

"And that would be...?"

"Since I helped you, and got nothing out of it, you are to help me in turn." Mortuus' grin widened. "After all, I will need a host after this..."

"No way." Shine growled firmly.

Mortuus laughed a mocking laugh. "Cute. Very cute. You seem to think you have a say in this." Suddenly the eyes of every corpse flicked open. Shadow's eyes were oozing balls of flesh in the sockets.

Mortuus laughed again, this one out of pure joy, sending chills down Shine's spine.


	5. Chapter 5

**"02 Welcome to Rapture" Gerry Schyman**

**Bringing some old chars into play :3 'Tis the reason they left, maybehz?**

** Chapter Five**

_A soft, lulling voice echoed throughout darkness of a certain panther's deceased mind. It shouldn't be possible, granted, but most things nowadays are becoming less and less explainable. _

_ "Do you... remember me?" The reassuring voice breathed._

_ In the darkness, a velvety voice that hasn't been used to years hesitated. Who was this mysterious person, and how did the manage to speak to the late Byrch?_

_ The voice laughed softly. "So you don't." It whispered after a moment. "Do you remember anything?"_

_ "Very little." Byrch's voice echoed. "My mind isn't what it used to be."_

_ "What do you remember?"_

_ "I remember the hedgehogs and the robotic beasts. A fox, too. No..." Her hoarse voice trailed off, then came back. "Two foxes."_

_ "Do you remember your death?"_

_ "My death...?" Byrch repeated. Her voice suddenly dropped to a low tone, each word slathered with raw hatred. "I do."_

_ The soft voice saw it's chance and immediately pounced on it. After all, this was the way the plan was supposed to go, anyways. "And it was the ones on the Blue Typhoon that got you killed. They sent you into the Metarex's territory, didn't they?"_

_ "They did." Byrch snarled."They did."_

_ "Then... would you like to get back at them?" The voice offered slyly. "I'd wager they haven't had one second thought of you since they returned to their planet. They didn't care. No doubt they wanted you to die."_

_ "They... did?"_

_ "I wouldn't put it past them." The voice prompted. "You and your family can teach them what happens when you're forgotten - However, you must agree to my terms."_

_ Byrch sounded suspicious. "What 'terms'?"_

_ "My only term," The voice no longer sounded as friendly as it had several minutes ago. "Is that you agree to help me. Then you may dispose of all those traitors - In _any_ fashion that pleases you."_

_ The dead panther ran options through her lingering conscious. It was either help this person, or be trapped in a dark limbo forever. Byrch knew what she was going to choose._

_ "Very well." Byrch agreed darkly. "I will help you."_

_ A soft laugh came from the mysterious voice. "Excellent choice, old friend."_


	6. Chapter 6

**"Don't think about Elephants" Hans Zimmer**

**.3.**

** Chapter Six**

Simon the Panda walked down the side of a dirt road. He was smiling, which of course was normal, and was feeling quite happy. He had just visited his old friends, and was now on his way back to his home. He hummed a slight tune to himself as he walked, hands in his pockets.

As he neared his town, he froze. Something was _very_ wrong.

Below, several houses were burning fiercely with blazing fires that illuminated the night sky. Simon took a surprised step back. "Wha- Oh man... I have to tell the others. This is not good. Not good."

He started to go back but stopped when he remembered something. "Willow..." The panda breathed, remembering his old friend who lived near him. Simon turned around again and started towards the town, ripping his sweater off as he ran.

In the streets, people were crying and screaming, running for the dirt roads that led out of the town. One woman, a light gray squirrel, shot out from her hiding spot beneath a ledge that was underneath a window. She flattened herself against the wall of another house, keeping to the shadows.

She saw Simon and slithered deeper into the darkness. "What's going on?" Simon yelled over the roar of the fire.

The woman glared at him with amber eyes, her huge, fluffy tail flicking every so often. Suddenly, her eyes widened at something behind Simon. The panda instinctively dove to the side, landing on his hands and knees. There was a sickening noise that came from the direction of the woman.

Simon coughed, the fire playing hell with his lungs. "I'm getting too old for this..." He muttered, getting up and patting the ashes off his hands and knees. He looked back at the squirrel and gagged.

She was lying in the shadows, her head cleanly separated from her neck. It oozed blood, a steady flow raching it's scarlet fingers towards Simon.

The panda backed up. "What in Chao's name is happening, here?" He exclaimed, then started back towards his original objective.

Far down the streets, a small house slouched lazily on a small hill. Simon ran up the hill, towards the ill house. Outside, there was a rectangular shaped hole dug out. Dirt scattered everywhere, trailing into the house, through the open door.

Simon swallowed the terror threatening to tumble out from inside him, and walked into the house. "Willow? Willow? Hey, man, it's me - Simon. Remember me?" Simon called as he walked in.

He got up to about the stairs when the floor above him collapsed, bringing fire with it.

"Woahthat'shot!" Simon dodged out of the way of the licking flames that grasped at his clothes. He coughed, covering his mouth with his shirt. "Willow!" Simon yelled more urgently. He hissed under his breath and ran up the stairs. There were only two doors - One led to a closet. One led to Willow's bedroom. Simon, purely by chance, chose Willow's door, and opened it.

Inside blood and tattered clothing littered the floor. Leaning against the wall, underneath the window sill, was Willow the Panther. He was clutching his arm, which had a steady flow of blood from four scars that cut to the bones. One side of his glasses were shattered, and his face was contorted in pain.

"Willow," Simon breathed, relieved. His old friend was alive. Injured, but alive. "Willow, c'mon, man. We need to get out of here."

Willow's green eyes snapped open. They widened in surprise. "Simon?"

"Yeah, yeah, long time, no see. What ever. We need to go, Willow." Simon held his hand out for the gray panther, who hesitated, then took the hand with his uninjured arm.

Simon pulled him to his feet and started towards the door.

"Where are we going?" Willow asked. He had changed since the last time Simon saw him. He now had a tougher frame, but it still was completely filled out. His eyes had less of a scared look to them, and his voice was slightly deeper.

"Anywhere." Simon brought them down the stairs.

"It's useless." Willow said, wrenching his hand away from Simon, stopping in his tracks.

"What?" Simon turned to him. "Are you crazy?"

"You don't know what you're fighting, Simon." Willow growled. "I've never seen anything like this."

"That's why I'm trying to get us to Sonic and Shadow." Simon insisted. "We can still can away and warn them."

Willow opened his mouth to retort when there was a loud cracking noise above his head. Simon cursed under his breath and grabbed Willow's hand and bolting out of the house. The roof caved in right as they made it through the doorway. As soon as they were off the property, the whole house collapsed.

Willow glanced back at the house. "Byrch..."

Simon sighed irritably. "Yes, yes. She'll be fine until the houses stop burning."

"No," Willow argued "She was in the house."

"What?" Simon looked at him, surprised.

Willow's eyes widened. "We need to get moving." He ordered. "She'll be on our trail."

"But she's dead!" Simon pointed out.

Willow ignored Simon's objections and pushed him, forcing him to keep moving. "I'll tell you when we get to Shadow and Sonic's." He said, simply. "There's no time, now.

Simon nodded. They passed the beheaded squirrel, running up the dirt road. Simon snatched his sweater off the ground as they ran.

As the lights from the house in their friend's town came into view, they picked up the speed. However, Willow, who had lost a lot of blood, started to fall back. Simon gripped the panther's shirt cuff and dragged him along.

They reached the town. As soon as they passed the first building, they skidded to a halt. There was a panther standing in a square section of cobbled street. Simon didn't recognize her, but judging by Willow's reaction, the gray panther _did_.

He took a few steps back, staring at this strange woman. She blinked eyes the color of setting suns, and turned to Willow, who gasped. He grabbed Simon's arm and shook it. "Which way to Sonic's place?" He demanded. "Bring us there right _now_!"

Simon blinked and jogged in the direction of the house.

"MOVE!" Willow barked, pushing Simon's back. The panda stumbled, grumbled under his breath, then booked it to the house.

"Who was that?" Simon asked.

"That was my mother," Willow hissed gravely.

"Didn't you say she was dead?" Simon asked.

Willow glanced over his shoulder, before shaking his head and following Simon. "She was."

Simon could see the house just barely in sight. "This is bad."

"Rather catastrophic, actually." Willow corrected, huffing for breath.

Simon could only hope that the panther was exaggerating.


	7. Chapter 7

**"SSRT" Birthday Massacre**

**"Bioshock Theme Song (Ocean of his Shoulders)" Gerry Schyman**

** Chapter Seven**

Kat looked into Tails' eyes. "So? Are you going to help?"

Tails thought for a moment. If he declined, billions of people are in jeopardy. If he complies, he has the threat of being killed by an old friend. He looked into Kat's eyes. "And you're sure it's Shine?"

"I'm almost positive. Who else do we know that is a black and white hedgehog with wings?"

Tails nodded. "Fine."

Kat hesitated. "Do you suppose Shadow would help?"

"I'm not sure. After all, it _is_ his sister who he'll have to fight." Tails pointed out. Kat shrugged.

Suddenly, the front door burst open and Tails heard Simon the Panda call for Sonic and Shadow.

Tails frowned and started towards the hallway. Kat followed, tipping her hat over her eyes, shadowing her facial features.

"What's going on?" Tails demanded. Then he noticed Simon didn't have his sweater on and he had also brought someone along with him.

"Willow...?" Tails breathed. Not only was he surprised that his old friend and ali had turned up, but also the state he was in. The panther's entire left arm had been ripped open, white bits of bone peeking out from the flesh.

In a flash, Kat had disappeared from Tails' side, then returned. She was ripping some fabric into long stips. Tails didn't bother to ask where she got the fabric, although he'd venture to say that it was _someone's_ bed liner.

The female fox started wrapping the ribbons around the gash, temporarily closing it. Simon, in the mean while, stumbled down the hallway. He thrust Sonic's bedroom door open and said something, although Tails wasn't really listening. He was paying more attention to Willow and Kat.

"What happened?" Tails asked Willow as Sonic and Shadow raced into the room.

The gray panther didn't look up from Kat as he spoke. "We're in trouble."

* * *

><p>"Byrch? But she's dead. She died ten years ago. How is that possible?" Tails was watching Willow with wide eyes.<p>

"One would think so." Willow growled. "I saw my mother, too. She looked as young as the day she died, yet she's been dead for over twenty years. I don't know how, but they we some how resurrected." He pointed at his huge wound. "Byrch saw me and attacked. She must have thought she killed me, because she left."

"_Or_ she was called away." Kat murmured, almost to herself.

Willow glanced at her, then looked back at Tails. "Who is that?"

Tails felt Kat's eyes on his back. She obviously didn't want him telling anyone who she was, not yet.

"Just an old friend. We can all get reacquainted later, though. Now isn't the best time." Tails got up from the couch his was sitting at and walked to the window. He peered outside, looking towards the town that was beyond saving. "They'll be coming over here, won't they?" He asked, although he already knew the answer.

Willow leaned back in the couch. "I think it's safe to assume they are already here." He growled.

Kat stood, too, and walked over to stand beside Tails. She stared out the window for almost a minute, then her facial features hardened under the shadows of her hat.

"We can stop them." Kat announced. She turned to Tails. "Right?"

Tails stared outside, remembering that Willow's mother was a highly trained assassin, as was Byrch.

"Right." He mumbled, not sounding all too positive.

Kat looked at him, her lilac eyes boring into the side of his head. Then she turned back to the window - Just in time to watch one of the houses combust into flames.

Simon saw this and groaned. He set his head in his hands. "We're doomed." He muttered.

Kat opened her mouth to reassure him, but stopped.

Shadow had walked between her and Tails and was looking out the window, his eye glazed.

"Shadow?" Tails asked, worried about his old friend.

But Shadow ignored him. He continued to stare until he eventually said "Do I even have to guess?"

Kat shook her head. "No. It's him."

Shadow's fingers curled around the window sill, the wood splintering.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sonic growled. His little mood swings have gotten slightly better of the years, but they are still there.

"It's Mortuus."

Funny how just two words can make an entire room delve into complete silence.


	8. Chapter 8

**"This is where they Sleep" Gerry Schyman**

**"Dancers on a String" Gerry Schyman**

** Chapter Eight**

Tails and Kat stood outside. They had told Sonic to go around and get as many people as they could save, get them on the Blue Typhoon, and leave.

"The controls are truly simple. I was nine when I flew it." Tails reassured Sonic.

But now they stood in the middle of the town, sitting ducks for their enemies. Kat's head snapped up. She turned around, looking for something.

"What? What is it?" Tails asked, turning around too.

"I heard something."

"Like, what?"

Kat's ear twitched and she pushed Tails in the opposite direction, jumping away from her spot. In the dusty ground where they were just standing was a dagger that was all too familiar to the pair.

Kat backed away from his, reaching inside her coat and grabbing something. She tossed it to Tails, who fumbled, then grasped it firmly. Then he realized what it was.

"'Celeste'?" He looked down at the silver gun lined with gold and black. "How did you-"

"Don't ask questions, Tails, just get ready to shoot!"

"Shoot? I've never shot a gun in my life!" He stopped, guilt twisting at his stomach. "Well, _technically_, that's not true..."

Kat's eyes flashed at him. "Just do it, Tails." She ordered. "And watch your back."

She warily walked over to the dagger, plucking it from the ground. A single marking on it confirmed her worst fears. Kat turned to Tails. "It's her. Byrch is here."

Tails hooked his finger through the safety loop and rested his finger on the gun's trigger.

Suddenly Kat was bowled over - Not by Byrch, in fact. It was another panther. Tails figured this was Willow and Byrch's mother. He pointed the gun at the brown panther and shot.

The bullet just barely missed the panther, who's head snapped towards Tails. Tails swallowed. This wasn't good.

The panther pushed off of Kat, smacking the fox's head against the cobble. Kat muttered something under her breath and tried to get to her feet.

Tails dodged out of the way of the panther. "I'm not made for violent contact." He said as he jogged away from the panther.

Kat rolled her eyes at Tails and rushed the panther. She knocked it to the ground, pinning it's arms down. But instead of laying there helplessly, as Kat hoped, the panther used Kat's chest to flip backwards, still lying on the ground. Bones and joints snapped as her arms twisted in ways they really shouldn't.

Kat got to her feet and backed away from the panther. She grabbed the gun from Tails and sent four perfectly aimed bullets into their enemy's chest. Black blood sprayed the ground.

"What is this?" Tails gasped, staring at the black blood.

The panther didn't fall. She kept moving, completely dismissing the wounds as if they were wimply splinters and paper cuts. Kat muttered under her breath and shot the panther's head. Two bullets were all she needed, really.

The assassin fell, dead again.

Kat stared down at her, followed by Tails. "How did she... come back...?"

"I'm not sure." Kat admitted "But they sure as hell aren't actually alive."

"So you're saying they're zombies?"

"Zombies? In a sense. Except they aren't your stereo-typical zombies." Kat's eyes darkened. "They have a leader and an objective."

* * *

><p>Shadow counted just over thirty people in the Blue Typhoon. That's all he and Sonic could gather.<p>

He started to leave the ship.

"What, where are you going?" Sonic called after him.

"I'm leaving. I'm going to go help Tails."

"But what about the people on this ship?"

Shadow stopped and turned to Sonic. "I'm sure you can handle it. All Tails has is himself and a child. You have the ship's guns."

He turned back and continued on. As soon as he was out of the ship, it became clear that his help was obviously needed. Ashes and sparks filled the air, the clouds of smoke accumulating in the sky. Shadow didn't dare take a deep breath.

Cream, now sixteen years old, popped her head out from doorway that a huge set of stairs led up to. "Shadow?" She called. "What's going on? Why are you leaving?"

Shadow stepped off the stairs, setting his foot in a layer of ashes. "My sister is out there somewhere, I can tell. And so is Mortuus." Shadow growled. "If we ever want a normal life, then one of the two need to die." His eye flashed. "I'm hoping it doesn't have to be both."

Cream stared after him as he walked back into town. Cheese fluttered to head-height. "Chi...? Chu chu chu!"

Cream nodded. "I hope he makes it back, though. It would be a shame for him to go through all that he has just to die."

Cheese nodded thoughtfully. The two were called back in, Vanilla urgently beckoning them. Cream hesitated and threw one last glance at Shadow. The hedgehog had disappeared.


	9. Chapter 9

**I don't normally use one song two times in a row, but this is such a beautiful piece and it fits the mood so well lol**

**"Dancers on a String" Gerry Schyman**

**"This is where they Sleep" Gerry Schyman  
><strong>

** Chapter Nine**

Kat coughed, trying to clear her lungs of the ashes that filled the air. She squinted, trying to make shapes out from the smoke.

"So what now?" Tails asked, moving away from the brown panther and the black blood that oozed from her.

Kat hefted her gun. "We hunt down whatever is destroying the towns."

"I take it that isn't going to be easy, though."

"Probably not."

Tails looked around as fire intensified. "And if all goes wrong?"

"We get to the X Tornado as fast as we can."

"Great." Tails growled sarcastically. "I am filled with confidence."

"One should assume so." Kat retorted.

"You guys don't think I'm going to let you have _all_ the fun, do you?" A voice said from behind them. Shadow walked out of the smoke, and stopped when he was in the square. He looked at Kat, who pulled her hat down lower. Shadow narrowed his eye.

Kat looked down a road. "Come on." She said, suddenly. "This way."

Tails reluctantly followed, Shadow in the caboose.

"I can't believe this..." Tails breathed, looking around at the building. He didn't even want to think about all the people who didn't manage to escape.

"Funny," Shadow began "How quickly things can change. How quickly things can go from peaceful to fatal." He looked around. "I wonder who's setting all the houses on fire."

"I have my hunches." Kat growled. They passed the Brown Dog Cafe.

"Where are we going?" Tails asked.

"I'm... following these footsteps." Kat said like they should know. She pointed down at the ground with gloved hands. Sure enough, there were faint footsteps. They didn't look like whoever made them was in a rush. It looked like whoever made them went out for a nice stroll.

Shadow looked down at the foot prints. "What if the person who made these are leading us into a trap?"

Kat looked back down at the prints. "Why would they do that? They more than likely think we're already dead."

The house at the end of the street and the single, unburnt house behind them burst into flames, windows exploding. Glass dug into the ground at the trio's feet, just barely missing them.

"Yeah." Shadow growled dryly. "I'm feeling pretty good about my 'Trap' guess."

* * *

><p>Kat, Tails, and Shadow looked for a way out. Flames licked far into the dark sky above them. Tails coughed. "We have to get out of here soon." He growled. "If the enemy doesn't kill us, the smoke and fires will."<p>

Kat nodded, then her head snapped up when she heard some movement. "What was that?"

"An exploding house?"

"No, Tails, there's something moving." She looked around. The whole front of a house caved in and sent sparks flying in all directions. Someone stepped out from the cave-in.

"Who is that?" Shadow asked, baffled. He wasn't just baffled because this person had walked out of a building that was on fire, but also because that person was orange with flame.

Tails groaned. "I think I know." He peered through the fire and was just able to make out a pair of glowing orange eyes, the color of ember. "Byrch had _two_ brothers..."

"One of which is dead..." Kat murmured.

"Because of me and Mortu-" Shadow was cut off as a tunnel of fire reached out to Shadow. The hedgehog dodged out of the way as the flames lit the spot he was just in.

"So this is Scorch." Tails concluded.

"Fitting name." Kat commented as she loaded the gun and shot at Scorch, aiming for his head. The fiery panther's head split apart, letting the bullets pass before his head regrouped. His entire body was reincarnated from flames.

With a deep, eerie voice, Scorch growled "I've been waiting quite some time for this. It seems you and I have some scores to settle, Shadow the Hedgehog."

Shadow might a slight 'Psht' noise.

"Arrogance is a rather unbecoming trait, Shadow." Kat growled.

Shadow shrugged, then sent a fist full of Chaos Spears at Scorch. The solid Chaos hit the panther in the chest, plunging into the fire. For a minute, nothing happened. But as Scorch lifted his arms to send twin funnels of fire into Shadow, the spears crackled then exploded in a burst, almost like a Chaos Blast.

Shadow, right before the burst, ran to the foxes, knocking them to the ground. The burst sent a shock-wave rippling through the ground, and it put out some of the fires.

The trio coughed as the dust cleared. "OK," Tails said after a moment. "Now there's only Byrch left."

"I think it's already too late for that, Tails." Kat coughed. "We need to get out of here."

Shadow nodded. "The ship has oxygen supplements. We need some clean air."

Tails glanced back at the spot where Scorch just stood. As he let his twin-tails start spinning in a helicopter fashion, grabbing Kat and Shadow's hand to lift them out of the flame's reach, he couldn't help but wonder just how many things like Scorch there _were_.


	10. Chapter 10

**"Step into My Gardens" Gerry Schyman (You can tell I love Bioshock lol)**

**"The Courtesy Call" Aperture Science Psychoacous Laboratory (New addiction)**

** Chapter Ten**

Tails piloted the X Tornado through the smoke-filled sky, Kat and Shadow in the passenger seats. They all couldn't help but look down at the scenery below them, which was bright and spotted with fires. The acrid smoke was beginning to leak into the craft, making Tails sneeze.

"So what now?" Tails asked as they circled the sky above the towns.

Kat was silent for a moment. "I knew this would happen." She said eventually. "I just didn't expect it to happen so soon."

Shadow was silent.

Tails noticed his old friend's silence, and decided to get him talking. No need for Shadow to revert to his old ways.

"So, Shadow, you know what we're up against, right?"

Shadow turned his head to look at Tails. He blinked slowly. "Mortuus. I have no doubt in my mind."

"But... Do you know who he's possessed this time?"

The black and red hedgehog blinked again. "Shine."

"Yes." Kat confirmed. "Which means she's still alive."

"Why doesn't that fill me with confidence?" Shadow growled. Then he narrowed his eye at Kat. "Aren't you that Katrena child? The one that followed Shine around everywhere?"

Kat stiffened. "My name isn't Katrena. I'm not sure who this 'Katrena' person is."

"But aren't you the one who followed Shine around everywhere she went?"

Katherine was silent for a moment, not bothering to look at Shadow. Finally, she said "No. That's not who I am."

* * *

><p>Tails returned the ship back to his town, but kept to the sky. Most of the fires had burnt themselves out, but some houses still burnt fiercely. What was left of houses glowed with bright embers.<p>

The sky was bright now, suddenly peaceful. The smoke was starting to clear. Tails wished things were as peaceful as they looked.

He, Shadow, and Kat just checked most of the nearest towns. They were burnt to the ground long before Tails' town was. Which means they were saved for last... Which can only mean that Mortuus isn't playing nice anymore.

"This is catastrophic..." Kat breathed. "He must really hate us."

"I'll say." Tails muttered. He peered down at the houses - Or at least what was left of them. "Do you think anyone survived that?"

Kat stared for a moment, thinking. "Hard to say. If the fire didn't get to them, then the smoke did. But we can check, if you want."

Shadow cleared his throat, offended his opinion wasn't asked. "I think we should just hunt Mortuus down. Who knows what's left down there?" Tails knew his old friend had a point, but he needed to be sure.

Tails started to bring the X Tornado closer to the town, looking for a good place to land. Suddenly an alarm in his ship started to wail.

"What's that?" Kat asked.

"Something's locked onto the ship."

"That's bad."

"Yes, that's bad."

"So take evasive maneuvers!"

Tails grounded his teeth. "I'm _trying_."

The beeping grew louder and Shadow gripped Kat's headrest, trying to lean closer to Tails. "Well try harder!"

"Hey," Tails growled, not turning around. "Do me a favor." He grabbed a pair of piloting headphones off a rest beside his seat. He set them over his ears, blocking out all unwanted noise. Over his shoulder, he said "Thanks."

Shadow growled, even though he knew Tails couldn't hear him.

Tails pulled the ship up, leading whatever was following them into the sky. He could feel stall dragging the ship down, so he punched a command into the ships controls, forcing most engine power to the tail engine. He really shouldn't be driving this thing at such an angle.

He couldn't tell what was following them, the craft's sensors wouldn't pick it up. All Tails knew was that it wasn't an explosive, because it collided into the ship and started to drag it down.

Pulling the headphones down, Tails turned around. Kat and Shadow pressed their faces against the glass, trying to see this object.

All Tails could see from his point of view was a 15' foot pair of wings, each leathery wing about 7'5 feet in length. Tails stared at the wings for a minute, captivated as they fought the engines pull and dragged the ship down. Then he shook his head and returned to the controls, trying to fight the strength of this thing.

"So," Kat blinked, her eyes wide "Another one of Mortuus' minions?"

Shadow, too, was staring at the wings wide-eyed. "One way or another, we're in trouble."

Tails felt a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead, even though the ship was properly ventilated to accommodate the outdoors temperature and the time of day.

"Warning," A soothing voice came from the ship's controls - The voice was custom created, one of Tails' little leisures. "X TORNADO is damaged. Engines failing."

"Really? No shit.." Tails growled through clenched teeth. "System; Command override: Shut down." He commanded after a moment.

"What are you doing?" Kat gasped. "Do you _want_ us to plummet to our deaths?"

"I want it to think we're out of power." Tails explained, making sure his seat-belt was strapped on and comfortable.

"Why?" Kat sounded like a mixture of outraged and befuddled.

"Because this thing has it's heart dead-set on us crashing." Tails set his leather-gloved hands on the steering control. "Make sure your buckled up properly. Things could get a little..."

"Bumpy?" Shadow offered.

"Yeah. Well, I was going crashy, but yeah. Bumpy works too."


	11. Chapter 11

**"You Precious Moon" Aperture Science Psychoacous Labratory **

**"Pairbond - Bioshock 2 Theme" Sounds from the Lighthouse (Aaaand now we're back to Bioshock, folks...)**

** Chapter Eleven**

"Are you crazy?" Kat exclaimed.

"Tails, just try to shake this thing loose!" Shadow glanced back out the window at the object on the engines.

Tails ignored them and let the ship be pulled by gravity. The nose of the X Tornado slowly turned until it was facing the ocean, which was rushing up to meet them faster than expected. The thing on the ship was weighing them down. Tails tried to think of a way to get it off without turning the engines back on, but before he came to a conclusion, the thing pushed off the ship.

Tails grabbed the controls as the force from the push sent them falling fast. He pulled up with all his strength, trying to pull the nose of the ship away from the planet.

A grassy field was where Tails was aiming to land, but the X Tornado seemed dead set on the vast ocean that the town was placed by.

"Tails, whatever that thing was is still following us." Shadow growled, glancing out the window. The leathery creature was just a black bullet, it's wings tuck to it's back as it shot through the air towards the ship.

The fox let go of the steering controls, letting the ship fall towards the ocean.

"Oh my god, what are you doing now, you crazy mother fu-" Kat's hysteria was cut off as two jet black things that crackled with electricity just _barely_ missed the ship. "What was that?"

Tails waited until the ocean was close enough that he could see each individual wave. He had to be careful and make sure everything was timed precisely.

"Tails," Kat growled "Turn the engines on."

"Hold on." Tails narrowed his blue eyes, watching the ocean speed towards them.

"No. _Not_ hold on. Turn the engines on now. If we hit the water, we'll crumple like a tin can, the force is too great."

Tails waited a couple more seconds, waiting until he could hear the ocean from inside the ship. The the engines burst into life and the fox instantly pulled the controls up. They were so close to the water that droplets landed on the windows from waves. Tails skimmed the surface of the water, trying to gain altitude.

He pulled up and just as the ship was less than a foot away from the water, there was a massive splash. The X Tornado veered up, towards land, avoiding the after wave. Tails realized he'd been holding his breath the whole time, and exhaled.

"Well," He said after a moment "There you go. It's gone. Problem solved."

Shadow and Kat were staring wide-eyed out the window, heads pressed into the head rests.

* * *

><p>"So, what <em>was<em> that thing?" Shadow growled. They stood beside the X Tornado, Tails making some quick, minor repairs to the engines with the emergency tool kit that was in a hidden compartment on the ship.

"_I_ wasn't able to make anything out of it. All I could see was the wings." Kat leaned against the side of the ship.

"Well, whatever it was, it was certainly powerful." Tails grunted as he took a step back from the engines. "If I hadn't reacted the way I did, it might have ripped the engines straight out."

"Well, we don't exactly have a great track record when it comes to our plans and _your_ crafts..." Kat muttered, though no one seemed to hear, so she crossed her arms stubbornly and tipped her hat lower.

Shadow was silent for a moment, his arms crossed, staring down at the ground. His red eye flashed. "You don't suppose it was...?" He trailed off, not looking up from the ash-lined grass.

Tails wiped oil from his hands and slipped his gloves back on. "If it _was_ Mortuus, then we were lucky to get out of that alive."

"I wonder why he didn't kill us." Kat said distantly. "If he's in Shine, then he would certainly have enough power to do so."

"But that doesn't make any sense." Shadow looked up at Kat. "If Mortuus has taken over my sister, then my _sister_ would have attacked us, not some bat-creature."

"It _did_ have wings..." Tails thought aloud.

"But Shine's wings have feathers!" Shadow insisted.

"Shadow," Tails looked at his old friend "Remember when Mortuus possessed me, and I attacked you?"

The black and red hedgehog cringed at the memory. "Yes."

"Do you remember how it mutated me? Morphed me into something I wasn't?" Tails went on. "After all, how could you forget?"

Shadow's eye softened. His hand fluttered up to his blind eye, then dropped. His eye glazed, which was unusual for him nowadays. "Then how, do you suppose, are we going to get Mortuus out of Shine's head?"

Tails looked out at the distant town, smoke still wafting gently into the sky. "I don't know." Tails murmured. "I hate to say it, but there may not be a way."

Even Kat didn't object, her eyes somber as she stared blankly at the ground.


	12. Chapter 12

**"How She Sees the World" Bioshock 2, Sounds from the Lighthouse**

**"Out the Airlock" Bioshock 2, Sounds from the Lighthouse**

** Chapter Twelve**

The smoke-stained trio cautiously walked into the burnt town, each step sending a cloud of ash spiraling through the air. Some buildings continued to smoke, others were bright with hot embers.

"I doubt anyone left over survived this." Shadow growled, kicking aside a beamer that had rolled onto the road when a roof collapsed. "And if they did, they'd have to be pretty damn lucky."

"I'll say." Tails muttered. He looked around. One person wasn't accounted for. "Hey, where do you think Byrch went to?"

"I'm not sure," Kat brushed some ash off the rim of her hat "But she couldn't have gone too far. Not with that much smoke."

Shadow instinctively tensed. "I know she was a friend," He growled "But I hope either the smoke or fire got to her. She's more danger to us as an enemy."

"He's right, of course." Kat growled. She and Tails may have an I.Q. around three hundred, but they still lack the experience that Shadow has. "So we're going to have to keep our eyes peeled. If we give her the advantage, it's all over."

A sudden feeling of helplessness washed over Tails like a tidal wave. He wanted to drop to his knees and simply lay there. Everything was destroyed. Mortuus was back, and he had a death wish for Tails and his friends. Shine, unfortunately, was working with Mortuus against her will. But Tails knew he couldn't give up. Mortuus was more trouble than he's worth. And he's getting worse.

The fox's twin tails suddenly whirred in a helicopter-like action and he was lifted off the ground.

"Where are you going?" Kat called.

"I'm going to scout around, see if I can find any movement." Tails called back. "You guys go around by foot."

Shadow and Kat nodded simultaneously, and set off. Tails glanced at them one last time before flying higher. He hoped they'd be OK.

Hovering thirty or so feet above the town, Tails was able to see everything without being too close. He squinted his eyes against the air that dried his eyes as he flew. He could feel the pull of gravity dragging him downwards.

But that wasn't gravity, as he soon learned. His first clue was the fact that he was beginning to go numb. The send was the little dart that was lodged into his left tail. He opened his mouth to call out for Kat or Shadow, but was unable to. He began to fall towards the ground, no control over where he would crash-land.

He glanced downwards, panic filling him as the ground rushed towards him. The last thing he saw was a hooded figure rushing out to catch him.

* * *

><p>Kat popped her head out of the ruins of a burnt house. She shook her head sadly. "No one in the basement." She crawled out of the ruins, dusting herself off.<p>

Shadow glanced around. "We shouldn't be here. We should be.. be.."

"Be what? Killing Shine?" Kat looked at him with skeptic eyes. "No offense, but I have to agree with you on that. The sooner Mortuus is out of the way, the better." She nodded to the next house. "Come on, let's keep going."

Shadow led the way towards the house. As they walked, Shadow began to think aloud. "I wonder how They survived that. Mortuus and Shine, I mean. Where did they disappear to when Shine went into Mortuus' head?" He stopped when he realized Kat wasn't listening. Also, that she was lying face-down on the ground, a single dart stuck between her shoulder blades.

Shadow felt a sharp pain in his leg as he stared down at Kat, surprised. He glanced to at it, only to find a dart had found it's place in his leg. He snarled and ripped it out, crushing it between his thumb and index finger. He fought the drowsiness, looking for whoever threw the dart at him and Kat.

A thought struck him. "Byrch?" He called. "Are you here?"

He got no answer, but when a dart lodged into his chest, it pretty much confirmed his fear. "Byrch!" He barked. "You don't have to work for Mortuus! You don't have to work with that monster!" His sight started to cloud with black fog.

"What a horrible way to talk about me." Was the last thing Shadow heard his sister say before he fell to the ground beside Kat, unconscious.


	13. Chapter 13

**GAAAH MUST GET CHAPTERS IN BEFORE THE WEEK STARTS OMGL OMGL OMGL ~Is grounded on weekdays FFUUUU~ Lol  
><strong>

**"Welcome Back" Bioshock 2, Sounds from the Lighthouse**

** Chapter Thirteen**

Tails' eyes slowly flickered open. His head throbbed. "Uuh.. Wh-what...?" His eyes cleared from a fuzzy white light and it took him a moment to regain feeling. He took a breath, as if he'd be deprived of air for ages. What happened?

Then he remembered what happened. He'd been knocked out with some sort of needle... No, a dart. Someone spat a dart at him and knocked him out while he was flying. But he had to have been at least twenty feet above the ground. Why weren't his bones tiny little shards right now? He wiggled his toes inside his boots, making sure the numbness of the drug had worn off.

"That took longer than I expected." A familiar voice said from in front of Tails. The fox looked up and he half groaned half snarled.

Mortuus sat on a ridge the metal wall of the room that Tails was in. The experiment was staring down at Tails with content, white eyes - Shine's eyes.

"So," Mortuus purred in Shine's voice "Here we are again."

"It's always such a pleasure," Tails growled dryly.

Mortuus rested Shine's hands on her knee that was crossed over her other leg. A sweet smile spread across her face. "Remember when you tried to kill me twice?" Mortuus said after a moment.

"I'm pretty sure it was more than _twice_." He noticed his hands had been bound behind him by a roll of chain that disappeared into the wall.

"I believe I've been shockingly nice," Mortuus went on, ignoring Tails' comment "Considering the circumstances."

"I guess it all depends on your view of 'nice', huh?" Tails glared at his old, possessed friend as Mortuus forced her to jump down and walk up to Tails, who struggled not to cringe away. "Where's Kat and Shadow?" He demanded.

"Kat will be joining you shortly, don't fret. And as for Shadow, I will be dealing with him personally." Mortuus said coldly. It tore Tails up to hear Shine speak this way. "I'm sure Byrch will definitely enjoy what I have planned."

"I'm guessing you're still trying to kill everyone." Tails hissed angrily "Or is it world domination, this time?"

"No." Mortuus replied. "Isolation. And I assure you, I am no longer playing any of your little games."

"Where have you been for the last decade?" Tails growled, changing the subject. "Destroying other planets, no doubt."

"As a matter of fact," Mortuus hissed "I've been trapped. Where? My own mind. It's lovely killing you over and over again, I must admit, but deep down I knew you really wouldn't feel the pain I would like to inflect upon you. So I forced my may back into the plains of reality." A sharp toothed grin formed on Shine's lips. "And with a little help from your friend..."

"Which reminds me," Tails glowered "How's that going for you?"

"Quite well, indeed." Shine's hands ran down her hips. "I quite like the change of pace. It's comfortable."

"That's slightly scarring."

Mortuus narrowed Shine's eyes. "Not _nearly_ as scarring as the next few hours shall be." The wall to Tails' left slid down and what was revealed made Tails gasp. "Not even _close_." Mortuus stepped Shine's foot on Tails' crossed legs.

Kat sat leaning against the wall, unconscious. Her arms were bound behind her back, too, by chains that disappeared into the wall. Her leather coat was still covered with ash from when she fell.

"I'm going to leave now." Mortuus went on "But I'm not going to miss anything. Those cameras up there will record this whole little act." Tails looked up to see two small cameras, each with a tiny red light blinking every so often. "I've better things to attend to, at the moment. Unfortunately, your good friend Shadow should be waking up in a matter of minutes."

Tails growled. "Don't hurt him!"

"Tails, this must have occured to you. You _are_ a _very_ intelligent fox, aren't you? Yes." Mortuus headed towards a thick metal door. "You realize... I'm not letting up." Stopping, the experiment turning around again. "You must know what revenge is like, hm?"

Tails glanced at Kat, who sat unmoving. "We only tried to stop you from doing the wrong thing, Mortuus." He persisted "You can't blame us for that!"

"Actually," Mortuus said thoughtfully "I've come to realize that I really _can_."


	14. Chapter 14

**Ha, my mom thinks she's sneaky, but there's this thing called a library! /SUBMIT**

**Bitchplz.  
><strong>

**"World of Warcraft Cataclysm - Night Elves"**

** Chapter Fourteen**

Shadow's eyes snapped open and he was instantly awake. He looked around and found he was in a large room, big enough to fit a small barn. He jumped to his feet, realizing immediately why he wasn't bound or killed.

"I'm not playing any of your little games." He called out into the metal room, his voice echoing slightly.

He watched as his sister walked out, her arms crossed and her mouth twisted in a sick smile. "Hello, sunshine. It's nice to see you, too."

Shadow glared, hating how his instincts wanted him to fight, but his conscious knew Shine was still in there somewhere and wouldn't allow him to harm her. "Why Shine? Why not anyone else, like me?" He growled.

"Because your mind was more... tasking than I thought it'd be. Besides, Shine will do just fine." Mortuus snarled, still in Shine's voice.

"Alright, so what are you going to do now? Kill me?" Shadow spread his arms. "Do so."

"Oh, Shadow..." Mortuus sighed whimsically "I can't possibly kill you. You were the one who helped me get what I want - At least try to, anyways. No, I feel that would be low, even for me."

"Oh?"

"Right. So instead, I've found someone who would do anything in the world to kill you." Mortuus went on, walking closer to Shadow. "Someone, I recall, that you grew quite fond of - Before you tried to kill. Twice."

Shadow's arms fell, and he could feel blood draining from his face. "So it's true..." He actually _liked_ Byrch. He didn't want to _kill_ her.

"Oh, indeed." Mortuus confirmed. "And I'm quite certain Byrch would have gotten to you by now if I hadn't talked her into patience." The experiment leaned in close to Shadow. "You see, someone, and I'm not naming names, has managed to somehow convince her that it was all _your_ fault she died. For whatever reason."

Mortuus turned and started to walk back the way it came. "Now, if I killed you, that would be downright low. But, finding someone - convinced that you killed this person in question - to kill you for me... Well, I'd say that's slightly better than if I killed you with my own hands."Mortuus stopped and faced Shadow. "Though, I will be attending to your beautiful death. I _do_ believe in good entertainment."

"Where's Tails and the girl?" Shadow demanded. "Or have you already let Byrch loose on them?"

"Oh my, no. That would ruin my fun, you see." Mortuus dragged it's words, savoring each one like a delicious treat. It spread Shine's arms, letting out a long, drawn out sigh. "I feel absolutely wonderful. I've got the universe in my palm, and I can crush it into itty bitty dust whenever I feel like it. However, I may keep a few people around just to entertain myself when I'm bored."

"And you'll never feel even a spark of loneliness. Speaking of which, how did disappearing for a decade turn out for you?"

"Ah, I was alone for almost all of it."

"Really, now?"

"Yes."

"And how did that go? Get bored quicker than you'd think?"

A twisted smirk darkened Shine's eyes. "It's been great. Great. Just.. great." It said whimsically.

"I take it it was great."

"Indeed it was. Now," Mortuus started walking towards the thick metal door again "Enough small-talk. I've wasted enough time talking to you. Byrch is impatient." Without another word, the experiment walked out of the room.

After several moments, the door opened, then slammed shut. Heels of a boot echoed through the room. Shadow watched as a cloaked panther walked in, hood-up. They didn't stop and walked right up to Shadow. As soon as they reached him, they threw the quickest upper-cut Shadow had ever seen. Well, not really seen. Witnessed. He wouldn't even say witnessed, because that would imply he'd _seen_ it.

It hit him bull's eye in the stomach, sending him flying into a wall. He slammed into it and fell, out of breath. He looked up as the person walked up to him again, pulling their hood down. With newly cut hair, Byrch the Albino Panther walked up to Shadow. Her eyes were dull, as if she had absolutely no feelings for anything at all. But Shadow knew that was a lie. He could feel her hatred tumbling off her like a tsunami. No, the dullness must be a side-effect of being dead for ten years.

She looked down at him, not saying a word.

"A simple 'Hello' would have sufficed." Shadow wheezed, getting air back.

For his sharp tongue, he got a kick to the stomach. He looked up at Byrch, hugging his arms over his stomach.

"I _really_ don't want to hurt you, Byrch." He growled through his teeth.

"What a shame," Byrch said in a mono-tone voice "Because I really want to hurt _you_."


	15. Chapter 15

**Nothing, because it was late and I was supposed to be asleep and I have band tomorrow and ~Continues list~**

**My middle toe keeps pinching. It's absolutely agonizing. I have no clue as to why it's doing it, though. T3T Indeed, you needed to know this lol**

** Chapter Fifteen**

Tails tired. Not just physically, but mentally too. Most of his determination has dried up. He was pretty sure Shadow was already dead, by now. He sighed, hands still shackled behind his back. Kat wasn't even awake yet. But even as he thought that, Kat started to stir.

She wriggled about for a moment, then her eyes snapped wide open. She bolted upright, eyes still wide. She slowly turned her head, looking around the room, until her eyes landed on Tails.

Tails stared at her for a moment. "Good morning." He said after a pause. "And how was _your_ sleep?"

"Must have been fabulous, 'cause I don't remember a thing." She said, trying to get up. The metal of the shackles must be body temperature, so she doesn't realize she has them on. Even though her hands are stuck behind her back. Brilliant.

She got up, started to walk towards Tails and stopped. Tails' chain started to pull into the wall, dragging the fox with him. Kat frowned. "How inconvenient." She looked over her shoulder, at the chains that bound her own wrists."That's not going to help us at all."

"Really? I couldn't tell."

"How about you save your jokes for later."

"How about..." Tails stopped. Then he frowned and said "How about you get us the hell out of here?"

"Wonderful come-back."

"I thought so."

Kat turned back to the wall, looking at the chain. Then she started jiggling her torso from side to side.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?" Tails asked, praying she hadn't gone stir-crazy already.

"Checking to see if my gun is still there - Which it is, of course." She flashed him a glare. "Why didn't he take it...?"

"Who, Mortuus? I don't know. Either is gotten dumber since the last we saw him, or he's planning something. And he... she... it... What are we calling Mortuus? I guess he doesn't exactly have a gender, anymore, does he? It? She? Whatever. It's and it now."

"Oh my god, Tails, you've become a motor mouth over the last decade." Kat groaned.

Tails frowned. "I don't talk too much. Do you think I talk too much? I talk a normal amount. Maybe you just don't talk enough."

Kat stared at him, eyes glazed like she was staring into nothingness. Then the glaze disappeared and she shook her head. "I'm just going to stop listening to you now, and start talking." She turned to the chains. "If the chains are actually connected, then that could prove a problem. If one of us tries moving forward, to get away, then the other will be pulled into the wall, and their neck will snap like a dry twig."

"Mortuus is testing us." Tails murmured.

"He is. And, guessing by the way this little trap is set up, he wants only one of us to escape alive. Whoever can figure it out first. Which means..."

"... He needs someone with actual brains." Tails finished for her. "So he gave you the gun."

"But that wouldn't be fair. Why would he let me keep my gun when you have nothing?" Kat pondered.

"Who knows? Maybe he wanted us to fight over it, or something." He glanced up at the video camera. "Sorry to disappoint you, Mortuus, but we aren't playing these little games for your entertainment. It will be mighty boring to watch us escape."

Kat turned to look at the camera. "He's recording this?"

"He's sadistic. What do you expect."

"Touchè. Now come get my gun."

"What?"

"Come get my gun. You need to shoot the chains. How else would you expect to get out? Simon to come and magic us into the Blue Typhoon with Panda Magic?"

"I am no stranger to sarcasm."

"Then come get the goddamn gun, and shoot the goddamn chains."

Tails' struggled to his feet, then waddled over to Kat. His pants were falling. He had to turn around and grab blindly for the gun.

He grabbed something.

"_That_ is _not_ the gun." Kat said slowly.

"I've... kind of noticed."

"Theeeen... why haven't you let go...?"

Tails quickly released his grip, his face burning. Kat, not wanting to get groped again, tried to aid him. Finally, Tails got the gun, holding it backwards.

"Please don't shoot right now. Whatever you do, don't shoot." Kat warned. "You totally have the gun pointed right at my face."

"I can't exactly _aim_, now can I?"

Kat frowned, then used her hips to aim the gun at her chains. When it was finally aimed at the weak-point of the shackles, she stopped.

"OK," She began slowly, making sure Tails heard everyone word. "Be careful, and don't shoot me. That's the important thing to remember, here. Not to shoot me."

Tails nodded, then hesitantly pulled the trigger.

The bullet shattered the metal, releasing Kat, who went flying alongside Tails. They stumbled forward. Kat caught herself before she hit the wall, but Tails wasn't so lucky. Or balanced.

He collided with the wall, the long chain snaking after him.

Kat snorted. "I wish I could take a picture of _that_." She jumped over her joined hands, so they were in front her her now. She sighed. "Much more comfortable." She looked back at Tails. His pants were starting to fall below his knees as he tried to push away from the wall without hands. When he did get away, he still couldn't fix his pants. He looked down at them, hissed in frustration, and tried to jump over his own hands. He tripped over a combination of his pants and the trailing chain, falling to the floor.

By now, Kat was dying on the floor, head tucked into her hands.

Tails glared at her. "If you're quite finished, I'd appreciate some help."

"Oh my Gooooooodddd..." Kat drawled, wiping tears off on her shoulders. She sat up, took one glance at Tails and snorted again.

Tails continued to glare. "I take my previous statement back - Maybe Mortuus _will_ be entertained by all this." He muttered as Kat got to her feet, sticking her hands out for Tails. He grabbed her hands and struggled to his feet. When he was finally on his feet, and not in danger of tripping over his pants, he started to pull them up awkwardly.

"Soooo..." Kat said after a moment. "Boxers, huh?"

"Shut up, holy crap!" Tails snapped, pulling his pants over his black boxers. "And shoot the goddamn shackles off my wrists."

"Before your pants fall, again?"

"That would be the most _preferred_ option, yes."

Kat snorted, picking her gun up off the ground and easily aiming it at the shackles. She pulled the trigger and they fell to the ground with a loud metallic sound. Tails rolled his wrists. "That feels so much better..." He sighed. Then he took the gun from Kat and did the same for her, with less accuracy, but it still did the job.

He pulled his pants up all the way, his face still burning with embarrassment. "Sorry I, uh... kinda... grabbed your..."

"Yeah, yeah. If you wanted to get your pants off, so much, then you should have just-"

"Shut _up_."

Kat grinned and started towards the door.

"What now?" Tails asked.

"Now we save Shadow."

"But he could be dead by now."

"'Could be' isn't factual."

Tails sighed. "This is going to be _fun_, I can just _tell_."


	16. Chapter 16

**"Eleanor's Darkness" Bioshock 2, Sounds from the Lighthouse**

**"Drained Memories" Bioshock 2, Sounds from the Lighthouse**

**So, I got a mark for putting a smart-ass reply on a math assignment the other day LOL For making a greenhouse, you had to times the perimeter (It was in feet) by the cost (per foot of glass). In the end, it asked what you learned from the assignment. I put "Glass is exspensive .3." and got a mark.**

**Also, my geo teacher asked "Ice sheets in India. Is that possible in 45 Degree weather?"**

**My answer: "Yes, but it would be odd." **

**One day, Imma die for my smart-ass mouth LOL**

** Chapter Sixteen**

Shadow jumped away from Byrch. The panther had destroyed a Metarex on her own - Shadow didn't need to see what she could do to something living. He wasn't exactly sure how he would get out of this one, but one thing was for certain - He was _not_ giving Mortuus the satisfaction of watching Shadow being torn to ribbons.

Byrch came rushing at him again, claws slicing at the air where Shadow just stood. He was behind Byrch, now, aiming a strong kick at her legs. She moved out of the way at the last minute, making Shadow miss and putting him off balance. She barreled into him.

He rolled across the floor, only stopping when his head hit a wall. Shadow shuddered and cursed. The tranquilizers Mortuus used on Shadow were making him weak, still. He started to push up to get off the floor, but he felt a boot push him back down. The boot pressed him flat against the floor, and continued to push until Shadow thought his ribs would break. But the pressure disappeared before the could snap, and he looked up, watching Byrch set her foot back on the floor.

Shadow hesitantly got to his feet, not taking his eyes off Byrch the entire time. "Why don't you just kill me?" He growled "Why play Mortuus' games?"

Byrch watched him, slowly walking to her right. Her glare was dilated, much like a cat's. Shadow was her toy, and she would play until she got bored.

Shadow waited another moment before running across the room in the blink of an eye. He got to the door and started examining it. Before he could figure out a way to open it, for it hand to handle, Byrch had him on the floor. Shadow was sure how, but there was now a split above his good eye and he was leaning against the wall. He blinked trying to get the blood out from his eye. Now he was completely blind. Great. Albiet, temporarily blind, but blind nonetheless.

Shadow heard the heels of Byrch's shoes tapping slightly against the metal flooring. Shadow thought he heard the door open, but Byrch didn't stop. Either she was too consumed to notice the door had opened, or someone had come in to help her kill Shadow.

Shadow rubbed at his eye until he got his sight back. His eye was still fuzzy, but he was able to watch Byrch step up to him. She raised her one of her clawed hands, ready to slice Shadow. Her eye suddenly widened and she paused before falling lightly to the floor, unconscious.

Behind her revealed a male fox holding a pipe as though he would a baseball bat.

* * *

><p>Tails held a pipe that he'd snapped off a wall. He gripped it tightly between his hands as he walked towards Byrch. The panther hadn't noticed that he'd walked in and was now ready to hit her over the head. Tails inched towards her, then swung the pipe with as much strength as he could muster. She stopped, and Tails was afraid she'd round on him and attack, but she simply fell.<p>

Byrch fell to the ground, asleep before she hit the ground. Shadow was leaning against the wall in front of her, staring at Tails. "He didn't kill you?" Shadow breathed.

Tails let the pipe fall from his hands. It fell to the ground loudly. "He tried to," Tails growled. He kicked the pipe away and looked around the room.

"What are you doing?" Shadow asked, getting to his feet and wiping some blood away from his eye.

"Looking for cameras. It's how Mortuus is able to observe all this - He... It... Whatever, isn't stupid enough to be so close to the fight." Tails shook his head, leaving the cameras. "Kat, get in here!" He hollered.

"I'm coming, I'm coming, keep your pants on." Kat's voice came from hidden speakers placed around the room.

"Would you let that go?" Tails called crossly.

"No, I'd actually rather not."

"Kat? I knew it! I knew it was her." Shadow declared triumphantly.

Tails paused, realizing he'd accidentally let that slip. But as Kat walked into the room, she didn't seem to care. Or notice.

She looked down a the unconscious Byrch. "I see you've had good company."

Shadow looked at both Tails and Kat. "How did you guys get away?"

"Mortuus practically handed us a ticket to get out." Tails muttered. "We just had to find it."

"So, what? He expected you to die, but you gave you freedom?" Shadow asked skeptically.

"Well, he actually expected us to kill each other off or something." Kat nudged Byrch with her foot. "He's not the most fun person, anymore, I must admit."

"So how do we get out?" Shadow asked, crossing his arms.

"I don't know. This place seems to have Metarex technology." Tails glanced around. "I think we're in an old Metarex base."

"Oh great." Shadow cheered unenthusiastically. "Because we've had _such_ a great track-record with _those_ guys."


	17. Chapter 17

**Long time to update... ~Sigh~...**

**Anyways... this chapter is a little... Abrupt.  
><strong>

**"TEST" Aperture Science Psychoacoustics  
><strong>

** Chapter Seventeen**

Shadow, Kat, and Tails had brought Byrch into the room the the two foxes woke up in, having no choice but to bind her with the chains.

"She'll get out." Shadow reassured had Tails grimly. "You don't need to worry about her."

So now they were sneaking down the vast halls, having absolutly no clue where they were going. They would turn right, get into another large hallway, turn left, turn right again, but everything looked the same. Tails walked along with Kat as Shadow led. _It's like a maze,_ Tails thought. The sudden thought struck him like a punch. This was just another little game that Mortuus has set up.

He turned to Kat. "This is why he didn't kill us. He's playing with us again. This is a maze, or a labrynth, or something." Tails' eyes widened. "Who knows what kind of monsters are down here?"

"More dead soldiers for him to sic on us, or something he created, or... or..." Kat trailed off. "Or just another trap for us."

"Well I'm not going to let anything stop us from killing Mortuus and saving Shine." Shadow growled. "Mortuus was almost destroyed ten years ago, I'm certain we can do it again." Shadow checked the corner, muttering under his breath about something. Louder, he said "Come on," before walking down the hallway.

Tails exchanged a glance with Kat before following the black and red hedgehog down the hallway with Kat.

They turned another corner and froze. This hallway was dark, and at the very end was a rectangular box of light that was almost blinding.

"A door..." Tails breathed. They all started to run towards it, Shadow holding the foxes' hands and dragging them along with him.

The door at the end of the tunnel flickered, as if something were passing before it quickly, then it disappeared all together.

_Did Byrch get out?_ Tails looked behind them and watched the hallway they just walked from close up and disappear too. Now, blind in the darkness, Tails knew this had to be more than Byrch's doing.

The lights suddenly flickered on, dazzling everyone, stunning them for a few moments. Finally sight was restored.

Tails watched one of the walls in the hallways slowly lower, making the hallway more of a room. Behind it, Mortuus stood, arms crossed sourly.

Shadow bristled and grabbed Kat's gun from the holster around her waist. He almost knocked her over doing so, but ignored her yelp of surprise and pointed the gun at Mortuus' forehead. Mortuus smiled gently, reminding Tails of the first time he'd met Shine.

"Why are you doing this, Mortuus?" Shadow snarled "Haven't you put us through enough?"

"No." Mortuus growled "I want you dead. But I'm allowed to have my fun first. You're a rational man, aren't you? You'll grant me my wish, right?"

Mortuus dodged a bullet, stepping to the side with enhanced speed. It frowned. "Obviously not. But then, you've stopped being rational for quite some time, haven't you?"

"What are you talking about?" Tails narrowed his eyes.

"You mean to tell me you haven't noticed?" Mortuus looked at Tails, surprised.

"Noticed what?"

"Shadow here has become slightly... unhinged."

"What are you talking about? He's perfectly sane."

"There's a word for someone like you - Delusional." Mortuus smiled as if Tails were a child again. "Shadow has been through quite a lot, wouldn't you agree?"

Tails felt Kat shift beside him. "Yes..."

Shadow kept the gun trained on Mortuus.

"And wouldn't you agree that he would stop at nothing to kill me?"

Tails hesitated. He had a feeling he knew where this was going. "... Yes."

Mortuus smiled a sick smile. "And he continues to try, yes?"

"Yes."

"And isn't that the very definition of 'Crazy'? When you do the same thing over and over, trying to get different results?" Mortuus asked slyly. "Because that's what Shadow here is doing - Trying to kill me over and over, but never succeeding."

"You don't know Shadow well enough to throw accusations like that around." Tails snapped at Mortuus. "Shadow is completel-"

"I don't _know_ Shadow well enough?" Mortuus stared at Tails, outraged. "I was in his mind for the longest time, you damn child, and yous say I don't _know_ him well enough!"

Tails recoiled.

"I know exactly how he thinks. I've seen all of his memories! I know what's on his mind, and right now, he won't give the slightest _shit_ about what happens, as long as _I'm_ dead and gone!" Mortuus raged, Shine's eyes turning black. "He is not the hero you think him to be! You only see what you _want_ to see - You're too damn _blind_ to see the truth!" Mortuus thrusted Shine's slender index finger at Shadow, which was shaking slightly from anger. "He's as crazy as it gets, Tails!"

Tails blinked, surprised at the sudden outburst. Then he shook his head. "Mortuus, you think you can play with our minds? You're wrong. I'm not going to believe any of your little tricks."

"Tricks? _Tricks?_ The one time I'm giving you the truth, you refuse to even _look_ at it!" Mortuus spat. It suddenly calmed, Shine's eyes returning to their normal white color. Mortuus took a breath then looked at Tails. "You are a delusional fox." He nodded towards Shadow. "He is a crazy hedgehog. And she is a-" Mortuus stopped, realizing Kat was gone. "Where did she go?" He glared at Shadow and Tails. "Well? Where did she go?"

Mortuus didn't even get a chance to react when a boot cracked against the back of it's head. It stumbled, falling to the floor.

"Well?" Kat snarled, walking up to Mortuus. "What am _I_?"

Mortuus looked up at Kat. "You," It sneered "Are a _pain_." Mortuus lashed out, hitting Kat across the jaw. Kat grunted and stumbled backwards. Behind Mortuus, Shadow fired the gun, barely missing both Kat and Mortuus because of Tails, who basically tackled him.

"Are you an idiot?" Tails hissed at Shadow, grabbing the gun from his friend's hand. "If you missed, you'd have hit Kat. And you'd have killed your sister - The one we're trying to _save_."

Shadow stared up at Tails, seemingly dazed. He didn't seem to know what was going on. Then he blinked and pushed Tails off him. He got to his feet and looked at Mortuus, who was watching Shadow with a smirk on it's lips.

"See, Tails? What did I tell you? He's insane." Mortuus crowed.

Tails stared at Shadow. Is it true? Had he really not noticed any change in Shadow at all over the past ten years?

"So," Mortuus drawled, talking to Shadow. "What have you to say?"

Shadow was silent for a moment, not looking at anyone. Then he slowly blinked. "I say," He growled after a pause "You need to get yourself a new hero."

Tails glared at them both, then got an idea. He looked at Mortuus as Kat got to her feet, wiping blood from her mouth. "Hey Mortuus," Tails hissed "Is Shine still swimming around in that head of hers?"

"Of course she is. At this very moment she's trying to tell Shadow to smarten up, which I find hilarious"

Tails ignored the comment, and continued with his idea. "Shine, remember when you first met me? You told me something, something you only wanted me to hear?"

Mortuus froze, pupils dilating.

"Do you remember what that was?"

There was only silence, then Tails thought he eventually heard "Yes."

"Something about... Images, was it?"

"_My image for you won't change in the slightest. If anything, it will be better. I hope you remember that for me. I don't know what Shadow told you, but I'm not that bad of a person._" Shine quoted softly. Tails almost smiled. It was working.

Kat was staring at Shine, and Shadow continued to stare at nothing.

"Right. And has that image changed?" He asked, stopping himself from letting his excitement show. "Because I know my image of you hasn't even though you have that _thing_ in you."

Shine was silent. "No." She said after a moment.

The door at the end of the hallway slowly opened up again. Kat and Tails' head snapped towards it. "Are you letting us go, Shine...?"

"Get out." She growled softly. She suddenly gasped and fell to her knees. "Mortuus is regaining his control..." She breathed, hands over her head.

Shadow stared down at his sister, wide-eyed.

"Get out!" Shine repeated, yelling it. "Get out before Mortuus comes back!" She suddenly cried out in pain and Tails watched as her back grew two large lumps. The skin tore and black leather wings, slick from blood, erupted from her back, her eyes turned black.

Shadow was suddenly back to normal. He rounded up Kat and Tails, then ran for the door. "Come on, you two." He growled "We're leaving."

Tails glanced back at Shine. The last thing he saw was two clawed hands rip the metal floor open.


	18. Chapter 18

**"World of Warcraft Cataclysm - Night Elves" WoW Music **

**"A Walk" Tycho**

** Chapter Eighteen**

Shadow ran, holding Kat and Tails over his shoulders. Tails knew he wanted to get them all away as fast as possible.

Tails caught glimpses of the place they were in, but not of the building. Mainly of things outside it - Like the dead bodies and the odd dead Metarex that all littered the floor. Tails cringed as he recognized a few of the bodies from his town. Some people _didn't_ get away.

Shadow didn't stop until the building was far behind them. They appeared to be on Malum, the planet where they first met Simon the Panda. _How did he get us here so fast?_ Tails wondered.

"He killed everything..." Kat breathed.

Shadow set them down, stepping away awkwardly from Tails. Kat ignored the confrontation, staring at a distant town that still had wisps of smoke trailing from it.

"Just for us." Shadow muttered, his tone grisly. "I don't know whether I should feel flattered or not."

Tails stared at the town too, though his mind was elsewhere. He blinked. "It's only a matter of time, now, until Byrch or Mortuus find us again." He growled. "And this time, they'll be ready to bring us down - Fight or no fight."

Kat nodded, then started towards the town.

"Where are you going?" Shadow hissed.

"To the town. I want to check for survivors."

"Oh? And how, I must ask, do you intend on bringing them back with us?" Shadow growled.

"Leave her alone." Tails muttered, pushing past Shadow. He grabbed her hands and propelled them towards the town, leaving Shadow behind to decide whether or not he should follow. Kat looked up at Tails.

"What's wrong with Shadow?" She asked.

Tails didn't look down as he steered them towards the town. "I think he let Mortuus get to him. And that's the worst part too - That Mortuus might actually be right about the whole Shadow being unhinged thing."

Kat looked back down at the ground that passed below them. "Do you think he'll be OK?"

Tails closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. "I honestly don't know anymore, Kat." He sighed.

* * *

><p>Tails felt a rush of wind put him slightly off course of the straight line he was flying in. Shadow had gone to the town before them, and was waiting at the boundary for them. Tails muttered darkly under his throat before reaching the town and letting Kat back down.<p>

She walked, stumbled, then let out a slight laugh. "After flying, walking seems to ungraceful and strange." She said before walking off to start her little search. Tails watched her go before he started in his own direction. He heard footsteps coming after him.

"Shadow," He growled "I don't even know if I want to talk to you right now."

"You would have done it too, had you been given the chance." Shadow argued bluntly.

"That's the thing, Shadow. I _did_ have the chance. _Kat_ had the chance. We didn't take it. We know there has to be some way to help Shine without killing her." He didn't even glance at Shadow. "Is what Mortuus said true?"

Shadow was silent.

"Is what _you_ said true?" Tails growled.

"... Yes." Shadow answered quietly after a moment. "You need a new hero. I'm not proud of much of anything I've done in my life time. It's usually been one mistake after another."

"Oh?" Tails kicked a piece of rubble aside, revealing a basement door. "Mind telling me what the first was since Mortuus came along?"

He was expecting something along the lines of "Letting you live while Mortuus is in you." or something, but that's not what he got.

"Watching Eggman snatch you away." He murmured softly. "I should have done something - I know I could have, but I just... didn't."

Tails opened the basement door and was welcomed with a face full of smoke. He coughed, covering up his surprise from Shadow's reaction.

"I should have killed Eggman where he was, but I didn't." Shadow continued. "I don't know why. It would have stopped any of this from happening."

Shadow was about to say something else when Kat's voice came from the other side of a building.

"You guys, I found someone!"

Tails flew over the destroyed house and Shadow ran around it, both coming to a stop by Kat. Beside the female fox stood a deer with burnt hair and smoke stains all over her. He clothes had been toasted and her starting to fall apart, destroying the tiny skirt and tank top. She had a small braid in the back of her hair, which was burnt on the end too. She had bright yellow eyes, which were brimmed with fear.

"Her name is Cerae." Kat explained quietly. "I'm surprised she survived."

Cerae tried to speak, but her throat was too dry. She blinked and pointed at her disintegrating clothes, covering herself up.

Tails realized, awkwardly, that her clothes were going to fall apart soon. He thought for a moment, then pulled his shirt off and handed it to her. Cerae gratefully took it and slipped it on over her head.

Tails smiled, but realized he was being stared at. He turned to see Kat glaring at him. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. I just figured that since you're already stripping, you should give her your pants too. Not that that'll be hard, they're falling on their own, anyways."

"What?" Tails blinked, blushing. "No, I just-"

"Whatever." Kat growled, waving Tails away. "You guys keep looking. I'm going to get her some water." She walked off, helping Cerae to the nearby river.

Shadow and Tails stared after the deer and Kat. "Well," Shadow said after a moment. "Seems as though someone is jealous."

"What? Who, Kat? Why would she be jealous?" Tails blinked, turning back to the building.

"Oh, come now. You can't honestly tell me that you haven't noticed that she likes you."

"I'm sorry. I've been slightly busy with all this 'Saving the universe' crap."

Shadow followed Tails, not really helping, but talking as they moved. "She obviously likes you. Why flirt with the deer?"

"Flirt? With Cerae? I hardly know her!" Tails snapped. He narrowed his eyes. "Also, leave me alone. I still don't want to talk to you right now."

Shadow hesitated, then narrowed his eye and walked off in the other direction. Tails felt a slight pang of regret, but shoved it away. Shadow had been his friend since Sonic died all those years ago. He'd put up with so much, waiting for Shadow to stop doing what he _wants_ to do and start doing what he _has_ to do. But Tails knew he couldn't get mad at his old friend for that - He's only doing what he has too.

Tails and Shadow would have to sort this out later - Right now they had to stop Mortuus before he could do anything else. But, apparently, he had to smooth things over with Kat. He sighed.

Great.

These are definitely some fun times.


	19. Chapter 19

**... Simon time!**

**My sister's description of "Having a good day":**

**"Good good good good special good good good."**

** Chapter Nineteen**

Simon the Panda sat at the controls of the Blue Typhoon. Screens all around him blinked warnings of oncoming targets.

Willow had gone to rest in the infirmary because his wound was giving him trouble. Unfortunately, that means that Simon was left to pilot the ship alone. Which was _also_ a bad thing.

Some people barged into the ship's bridge. "Simon!" They hollered irritably "What's going on?"

Simon cringed his teeth and swiveled the chair around to face Amy, Cream and Cheese, Vanilla, and Rouge.

"Just some slight turbulence..."

"Slight turbulence my ass!" Amy retorted.

"OK, something _may_ have locked onto us... Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Yeah. O-or it's nothing. Nothing."

"Yeah, right." Rouge growled glancing at the screens.

"Simon, you need to get us out of here fast." Vanilla said in her quiet voice, even though the words sounded threatening.

Simon turned back to the computers, hunching over. "Gwaaah, you guys are mean. This place is full of mean ladies." He typed some commands into the computer. "Computer, start a Distress Call."

"Distress Call? But we haven't actually been attacked yet." Cream looked over Simon's shoulder.

"I need to find Shadow. He can deal with this." Simon growled. "So just s-" He was interrupted by a crash from somewhere in the ship. He turned back to the computers.

"Distress Call activated." The computer replied.

Simon opened his mouth to start the Call, but was interrupted again by another crash and something flying in. Sonic the Hedgehog skidded to a halt beside Simon as the Distress Call deactivated. "You guys need to get out of here." He said urgently.

"Sonic!" Simon threw his hands up in the air, relieved that there was someone here who can deal with an attack. "What's going on? Who's attacking us?"

"Well, whoever it was looked way too much like Shine, so my guess is-" Half the wall behind him crashed down. Dust filled the air and heels clicked against the floor. A large silhouette filled the whole in the wall. Sonic recovered from the crash, straightening his back and turning around. "- Mortuus."

Mortuus stepped into the room, still in Shine's body. Shine's wings were completely out of her back, dry blood caking them. One of the wings had it's feathers starting to grow back, while the other was slick, black, and leathery. "Hello, Sonic." Mortuus purred, talking in Shine's voice.

"What?" Simon took a step back, his eyes widening at the sight of Shine's black eyes. "I thought you were destroyed!"

"Impossible." Mortuus airily waved Shine's hand. He looked at Sonic. "I've found you. It took long enough, but I've found you."

Sonic took a step back. "What do you mean?"

"We should just kill it now!" Amy hissed, raising her Piko Piko hammer. Rouge nodded in agreement."

"_Ah ah ah_!" Mortuus tutted "You wouldn't want to do that."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Have you forgotten? I'm in your beloved Shine - You couldn't hurt me even if you wanted to." Mortuus crowed silkily.

Sonic growled under his breath and shot at Mortuus. Shine's wings snapped out in front of her, shielding her from Sonic's attack. Sonic hit the wings and was pushed back with extreme force.

"Sonic!" Amy called, rushing towards Sonic, who was laying on the floor.

Shine's wings relaxed again and another crash shook the ship.

"What was that?" Cream gasped "I thought you were the one making the crashes!"

"Oh my, no. You really think I would come without the cavalry?" Mortuus walked towards Sonic. He whisked Amy away with Shine's wings, and picked Sonic up. "I've gotten all that I needed. I think I'll be on my way." Mortuus turned, holding the unconscious Sonic in Shine's arms. Over Shine's shoulder, Mortuus said "You can go on with that Distress Call now, if you wish."


	20. Chapter 20

**...**

**Really? Nothing after that whole battle shit I did last time?**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**Lame.**

** Chapter Twenty**

Tails kicked some rubble aside from a fallen building. The building looked like it might have been expensive when it was still standing.

Cerae, who was standing next to him, frowned and kicked more of the rubble away with her hoof. "Tails," She called hoarsely. "Look at this." She was pointing at a metal hatch that was on the floor, locked.

Tails knelt down by the door, pulling a pocket knife from one of his front pockets. Cerae watched as he picked the lock in ten seconds flat.

"That was amazing, Tails!" She swooned.

Tails growled under his breath. This wasn't helping his case at all. He changed the subject. "Do you want to go down, too? I'll just be taking a peek around, so yo-"

"Yes."

"... Um. OK then."

Cerae followed him down the metal stairs that were underneath the hatch. "I wonder what's down here."

"Yeah."

"Last time I went into a basement, I was getting peas."

"... That's... great?"

"Yeah. I was going to eat them steamed, but I couldn't get the stove to work."

"Why?"

"The little knobby thing on the stove snapped off. So I just ate them after they weren't frozen."

"You mean after they thawed."

"No, I mean when they weren't frozen anymore."

"That's what 'De-thawed' means."

"..."

Tails quickly changed the subject. Again. "Do you see a light down here?"

"I see the light from the hatch."

"I mean a light switch."

"Oh. Yes, I see one."

"Can you turn it on, please?"

"..."

"Do you know how to work a light switch?"

"... Maybe."

"Just flip it so that it's no longer facing the direction it was just facing."

Tails heard a slight snap.

"Oops, it broke itself."

Tails sighed and walked over to her. The plastic was cracked. Luckily, it still worked. He turned on the light and blinked at the sudden transaction. Then his eyes widened. The room was filled with computers and screens. All of the screens were either blank or fuzzy. One of the computers had a blinking green light on the front.

Knowing what to do Tails walked over to the computer and pressed the small black button that was beside the light. Instantly a voice started to play.

"Hello? Anyone there? This is a distress signal! Why isn't anyone answering!" Tails recognized the voice as Simon the Panda's. "Oh man..." The was a loud crashing sound in the background, and Tails imagined Simon cringing. "If anyone gets this, send help! Mortuus has found us! He's-" Another crash. "He's got Sonic, you gotta send help _now_!"

Tails bristled. "Mortuus attacked the Blue Typhoon." He growled standing up. The message must have been at elat twenty four hours old. He turned to Cerae. "You stay here, I need to look for Kat." He hesitated, then said. "Don't touch _anything_. Don't _look_ at anything, don't _breath_ on anything, don't even _think_ it. Just listen to see if there are any more distress calls."

Cerae stared blankly at him for a second, then nodded.

Tails reluctantly left her there, taking the steps two at a time. He ran into the open air. "Kat?" He called. "Kat, where are you?"

"What?" Kat growled from behind him.

"_Jesus_!" Tails flinched away. "Don't do that. Scare the crap outta me, man..."

"What do you want?"

"I found something."

* * *

><p>After listening to the distress call, Kat nodded. "They're definitely in trouble, Tails." She muttered. "Where are they?" She demanded.<p>

"I'm not sure."

"Fine. I'll have to do everything, I guess..." She sat down in the wheely-chair by the computers.

"Hey!" Tails growled.

"Just go and keep looking for survivors."

"Fine. Cerae, come o-"

"_No_. She stays here."

Tails muttered under his breath and walked up the stairs.

* * *

><p>Shadow saw Tails kick a piece of roof aside. He sighed and walked up to the fox.<p>

"What do you want? I thought I told you I didn't want to speak with you."

Shadow crossed his arms. "It can't always be like this, Tails."

"Oh really?" Tails said dryly. "Because that's how it kinda seems like it's going to end up as."

"Tails, you know I only do what we have to."

"No, Shadow. You only do what _you_ have to."

Tails started to walk away, but Shadow gripped his shoulder lightly and pulled him back. "Tell me what's really going on."

With icy defiance, Tails glared at Shadow. Then his shoulders sagged. "I guess it's just this whole thing... Mortuus coming back with everyone, finding out Shine is alive, but unable to help us, Kat being angry because she thinks I'm hitting on Cerae or something. It's too much."

Shadow's expression didn't change. "We're all dealing with a lot of things right now, Tails."

Tails was silent for a moment. Shadow was right. Everyone had either lost their family, their home, or their friends - The life they used to know. "I suppose you're right, Sha-" He was cut off when he heard Kat yell. He whipped around. "Kat!"

"Help!" Tails heard her voice from the cellar.


	21. Chapter 21

**MORTAL COMBAT!**

**BONNIE LIZZIE vs. AUTHOR'S BLOCK!**

**Fight... GO!**

**[Bonnie-Lizzie]: uses [Monkey Wrench]!**

**[Author's Block]: uses [Flee Ball]!**

**WINNER!**

***Final Fantasy 'Battle Won' music starts playing in background***

**Me: TAKE THAT, BITCH!**

**L. Church: What the fuck, that was wrong in, like, eight different ways.**

**Me: ~Narrows eyes~**

**BONNIE LIZZE vs LEANARD CHURCH!**

**Fight... GO!**

**[Church]: summons [Sheila]!**

**[Bonnie-Lizzie]: uses [Flee Ball]!**

**[Flee Ball] fails!**

**Me: FUCK.**

**[Bonnie-Lizzie] plays [Lying From You, by Linkin Park]!**

**[Lying From You, by Linkin Park] fails!**

**Me: NUUUU. Y THAR NU GUD SONGS FER MEH.**

** Chapter Twenty One**

**~Six Hours ago~  
><strong>

Shine could feel Mortuus' anger seeping back into her mind. She glanced up at Shadow, Tails, and Kat, who stared at her. Shine fell to her knees. She was vaguely aware that she yelled something, before she felt her back starting to split and her deformed wings burst out. She heard Shadow say something to Kat and Tails before leaving the building.

Right after the door closed behind her friends, her hands started to change. The joints popped as the fingers grew longer and thicker, turning into huge talons. They gripped at the metal floor until it crumpled like a tomato can.

"You're a fool, hedgehog!" Mortuus spat. "You let them go hardly without a fight!" Mortuus gripped at the flooring, ripped it off the floor, and flung it across the room. "Do you have any idea of how long I've been waiting?"

Shine clenched her fists. "Get out of my damn head!" She yelled into the empty room.

Mortuus gave no answer; he simply twisted her insides painfully.

Shine gasped and fell to her knees again, her arms wrapped around her stomach. Her blood-slicked wings curled around her like a leather shell, instinctively protecting her. "As soon as I get the chance," She hissed through gritted teeth "I'm going to fucking rip you apart."

"Don't hold your breath, rat." Mortuus snarled back. He slid into her mind and managed to get control again. He forced her to stand, and when she was stable again, he folded her wings neatly behind her. "Now," Mortuus growled "We have things to do."

* * *

><p>Mortuus walked into the room where he had kept the two foxes. It growled when he realized they didn't even kill Byrch. They just left her there, unconscious, wrapped up in chains. It walked up to Byrch and kicked her boot.<p>

"Wake up." Mortuus growled, kicking her boot again. Byrch's eyes snapped open, instantly looking at Mortuus. "You're useless." Mortuus hissed, walking back out of the room, not bothering to unchain her.

Mortuus needed someone with information. Someone who could easily be disposed of. Which, of course, he found. He also found a new plaything, which he was just about to check on.

He walked down the halls, eventually reaching a large door with a very intricate security system. Mortuus unlocked it and opened the doors, walking in. He didn't bother turning lights on. He could see perfectly fine. His guest, on the other hand, was as good as a rock in this darkness. Exactly what Mortuus needed, for now.

"Hello, Sonic." Mortuus greeted Sonic the Hedgehog brightly. He walked up to the hedgehog, leaning over him. "How are you this fine morning?"

Sonic opened one eye, even though he couldn't see in the midnight black surroundings. "I'm dandy." He growled.

"Now, now. No need for sulking. Big boys don't sulk."

"Will you shut up?"

Mortuus gasped melodramatically. "What a mean way to thank me and all my hospitality."

"Oh, gee. I'm so sorry. My heart weeps." Sonic jangled the chins that held his wrists. "I assume you're here to set me free, no?"

"Oh dear, no. Then you would runaway. That's not allowed." Mortuus clicked Shine's tongue three times. "Nope, not until it's time."

"And when is that?"

Mortuus grinned. "Soon. Don't become impatient, Sonic."

Sonic rolled his eyes. Mortuus just grinned even wider and walked out of the room.

"Let me out of here!" Sonic called after Mortuus. "Or I swear to god, I'll rip your throat out."

"You _do_ realize that it would be _Shine's_ throat you're ripping out, right?" Mortuus asked, walking back towards Sonic.

"Well, she _has_ caused enough trouble for us all already." Sonic glared at the spot Mortuus stopped at, unable to see in the darkness."

Mortuus just smiled and crouched by Sonic. "Wow. You're even worse than Shadow, aren't you?"

"Excuse me?"

"You're no the way you used to be, huh? It seems bringing you back from the dead has really unhinged you." Mortuus grinned in the darkness. "Which, frankly, I need. You see, Shine can do all these amazing things, right? She can fly. She can Chaos Blast. She can Chaos Control. But both me and her have been weakened. She's losing her touch. I need a fresh body - Someone useful."

"You're talking nonsense."

"Let me put it this way, Sonic." Mortuus growled." Shine is regaining her control faster than I thought she would. I need to get what I have to done before she gets full control, but I won't get the chance and I am _fully_ aware of it, even if she's not." Mortuus grinned again. "That's where _you_ come in - With all that anger built up inside you, you could damn well be as powerful as Shine. In the right circumstances, that is. And it would take ages for you to regain control. By then I'll have everything I wanted to get done, completed."

Sonic snorted. "You claim to be a god. How come you need a host, if you're so powerful?"

"Why? It's all for power, my friend. If you haven't noticed, I admire it." Mortuus growled. "Besides, I never claimed to be a god. I simply claimed to be god-_like_."

"What about Tails and Shadow, then? You haven't been beaten over the head yet, so I'm guessing you've managed to kill them."

"Kill them? Not yet. It's much more entertaining to drag it out, you see." Mortuus stood. "Good luck with your empty room and your raging insanity. I'm afraid I have things to do."

"You're like a spoiled kid, aren't you?" Sonic growled as Mortuus walked away. "If you don't get what you want, you lash out. What happens when you start to lose, Mortuus?"

"What happens?" Mortuus stopped. "Well, I've never considered that possibility." He turned to Sonic. "I suppose I just kill everyone I can before I go down."

Sonic muttered something darkly under his breath. Louder, he said "You're going to be stopped. You've been stopped before, it can happen again."

Mortuus laughed. "Yes, but it was only temporary. And look at the good it did _you_." He walked out, leaving Sonic to stare into the darkness.


	22. Chapter 22

**.3.**

** Chapter Twenty Two**

"Don't just stand there, get her off me!" Kat screeched, scrabbling at Cerae's hands.

Shadow stepped up to Cerae, grabbed under her arms, and pulled her off Kat. Cerae thrashed around in Shadow's arms. "Let me go!" She screamed.

Tails helped Kat up. "Are you OK?"

"That crazy bitch attacked me right before I got the coordinates!" Kat stumbled back. "What the hell is wrong with you?" She snarled at Cerae.

Cerae kicked out at Shadow with her hooves. "Let. Me. Go!"

Tails looked about the room, looking for what fell. To his dismay, he was right in his guess of what fell - It was the computer. There was glass shards from the computer screen. The computer tower was fine, but now they didn't have any way to read the information.

Cerae squirmed around in Shadow's arms and managed to wriggle one arm free. She reached for the bead that hung from the braid in her hair. She twisted the bead and a thing needle-like knife no longer than a middle finger slid out of the braid. Tails had to admit, hiding a knife in a hair extension like that was pretty crafty. Especially for Cerae.

She slashed out at Shadow, who dodged the knife, grabbing it between is index finger and thumb. He twisted and easily pulled the knife away.

"No!" Cerae dived for the knife, but Shadow caught her and restrained her again.

Kat walked up to Cerae, seething with hatred and malice. "Who sent you? Or do I even have to ask?"

Cerae straightened her back in Shadow's grip. She stared at Kat with fiery green eyes. "I'm freelance - No one sends me."

"Wow. Using words with more than one syllable? I'm impressed." Kat growled back. "Let me ask it a different way, then - Did Mortuus send you to kill us?"

"As a matter of fact, no." Cerae sneered. "I was sent to simply kill _you_."

"I've about all I want out of her..." Kat snarled as she advanced on Cerae. Tails gently pulled her back.

"Leave her to Shadow," Tails said quietly as Kat involuntarily stepped back to his side.

Shadow brought her up the stairs, disappearing from sight with Cerae.

Kat spat under her breath, clenching her fists. Then she turned and bent down, cleaning the broken computer off the ground. "Help me clean this up. We may be here a while and I don't want to have to step on broken glass all the time."

"What do you mean we'll be here a while?"

"Well, we really have nowhere else to go, now do we?"

Tails bent and started to clean up the glass with her. After a moment of awkward silence, Tails started to speak.

"Listen," He said "I'm sorry... you know... If I insulted you or anything. But, like... We're not dating or anything, so you should be angry... Right... We're-.. We're not dating, right?"

"I don't know. We haven't been on a date before... Unless you count being kidnapped by a crazed virus that's set on killing you. But I have to admit - That doesn't really make it into my top-ten best dates."

Tails smirked and gathered all the computer bits up from Kat and stood up. "I'll go throw these out." Kat nodded and Tails leaped up the stairs, using the unfair advantage of his twin tails to help him. He hovered a good thirty or so feet away from their base before dropping the glass.

Dropping to the ground and coughing from the ashes that swirled around him from the commotion, Tails covered his nose and mouth. "Ugh. I hate all this smoke. I hate all this ash." He sighed and started to walk back. "This sucks."

He stopped abruptly, looking at the debris of a house. He narrowed his eyes, "A hand...?" He muttered to himself. Sticking out from the ashes was a slender, ivory hand.

* * *

><p>"Hey Kat! Come look at this!" Kat heard Tails call her. She rolled her eyes. She really didn't want to deal with another 'suvivor' - The last one turned out oh-so-pleasant.<p>

"What now?" She called as she climbed out of the basement.

"I think I found a... survivor..."

"... What?" Kat didn't like the way he said that. She started running towards Tails, kicking up ash as she went.

She found Tails and skidded to a halt, her eyes widening at what Tails had found. "Is that...?"

"Yeah... It is..." Tails confirmed quietly. "... It's Shine."

Lying in the ashes was the hedgehog, her wings folded around herself. She was completely unconscious.


	23. Chapter 23

**:O**

** Chapter Twenty Three**

Shadow heard Tails call Kat. Curious, he walked after them. When he finally found them, they were staring down at something on the ground. They turned and saw Shadow walking up, then parted to let him through. He saw a body on the ground, but before his mind was able to even register that it was his sister who lay there, he felt something brush against his arm. When he looked down, blood was trickling from a wound that ran across his arm.

Like he even had to guess who it was.

Shadow grabbed Kat and Tails by their scruffs and tossed the aside. Kat rolled and was instantly on her feet, helping Tails up. Shadow, in the meanwhile had jumped away from the half-collapsed building, where Byrch was perched.

"Oh god..." Tails muttered.

"What's going on?" Kat demanded.

"It's _her_." Tails growled.

"What? What's _she_ doing here?" Kat hissed, backing up with Tails. "I thought she worked for Mortuus, now."

Byrch's hand flashed from under her coat. Shadow dodged a short-sword that was aimed for his heart, then snatched it up. Byrch calmly jumped down from the building and surveyed the scenario. Finally making a decision, her hand snapped out of the long coat again, this time with a chain spiraling out from her hand. It was a small chain that was connected to the handle of a rapier - A hidden chain. How clever.

The chain snapped out and caught Shadow's wrist. Right before Byrch pulled Shadow towards her, Shadow ripped the chain towards him. Byrch's emotionless eyes widened as she flew towards Shadow's outstretched arms. Shadow caught her and pull her close to him, pinning her arms to her sides.

"As flattering as it is, you didn't have to go through all this trouble to get one last dance with me." Shadow murmured good-naturedly into Byrch's ear. He looked up. "Kat, Tails - Get Shine to the base. I'll deal with Byrch, here."

"You're not going to kill her, are you?" Kat growled.

"We don't have much choice on that." Shadow snapped.

Kat glared at him for a moment then muttered something under her breath and started towards Shine with Tails.

Byrch suddenly flared, trying to twist away from Shadow.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down!" Shadow hissed, being forced to hold her tighter so she couldn't slip away.

"Don't _touch_ her!" Byrch spat as she thrashed about.

Tails blinked and looked at Byrch. "What are you talking about?"

"I'll kill you, you insolent brats!" Byrch hissed fiercely.

"We're not going to hurt her, calm down!" Tails reassured her. "I thought you worked for Mortuus?"

"Of course not!" Byrch spat. "_She_ is my master!"

Tails and Kat took a moment to exchange glances, then looked back at Byrch. "We're just going to take her to our base, where we can make sure she stays safe. Can we do that? Can you trust us?"

"I don't trust any of you!" Byrch thrashed about.

Kat stepped forward and motioned for Shadow to let go of Byrch.

Shadow glared at her. "Are you crazy?"

"She's not going to listen to us if you're acting like you want to kill her." Kat growled. Byrch watched Kat as the fox approached. "Byrch, I don't know what you've been told, but chances are that it's _wrong_. _We're_ the good guys - So is Shine. And you are too. You just have to calm down and not try to kill us every five seconds. Ok? I'll make a deal with you - You let us take Shine to our base, and you can guard her _there_. Deal?"

Byrch glared at Kat for several moments, then huffed. "You do _anything_ to her, and I _will_ kill you all." She snarled.

Kat waited until she turned around to smirk. She walked back to Shine and Tails.

"Don't gloat." Tails muttered to her.


	24. Chapter 24

**~Trollfaceplz~**

**You know, whenever I write my chapters, I always center the Chapter number, even though it's pointless.**

**Just another one of my OCD traits, I suppose.**

** Chapter Twenty Four**

"Do you have any idea on what's going on?" Shadow growled "Why is she not waking up?"

"I can only guess that's she's in a coma, Shadow, calm down." Tails snapped as Kat lay Shine on the tiny, half-smoked cot that was in the basement.

"Long term or short term?"

"What? Shadow, I don't-"

"_Long term or short term?_"

Tails sighed. "Look, Shadow. I know you feel the need to protect her because she's your sister, but if you insist on using nonexistent medical terms for comas, then I can't help you."

"But she needs to wake up! If Mortuus isn't in her anymore, then we need her help!" Shadow insisted.

"Shadow, I understand that, but we need to wait and that's all there is to it. There's nothing we can do."

Kat looked up from her unconscious friend's face. "Is there any food here?"

"No. Well, there was a can of beans, but those didn't last long." Tails pointed at an empty can of beans. "Why? You hungry?"

"I think we all are. Do you think there's a possibility that Mortuus didn't kill every living plant on this planet, too?"

"Who knows?" Tails glanced at Shadow, then back to Kat. "Want to go check with me?"

Kat instantly nodded. She turned to Shadow. "Help Byrch guard Shine - If Mortuus is around here, somewhere, he'll probably want to finish what he started."

Shadow shrugged lazily as Kat and Tails left. He pulled the wheely chair up and sat down.

* * *

><p>Shadow snorted bad his eyes flicked open. He must have fallen asleep. He sat up and wiped some drool from his mouth.<p>

Yawning, Shadow stretched his arms and legs. He didn't know how long he'd been asleep, but it probably wasn't for that long - Kat and Tails weren't back yet. He cracked his knuckles.

Then he froze as he felt the cold metal of a gun being pressed against the back of his head.

"Don't. Move." Shine snarled into his ear as the gun was pressed harder into the back of his head, as if to prove a point.


	25. Chapter 25

**"[HQ] I Want You - Theme for Scanty and Kneesocks Henshin - PSG OST - Teddyloid" ~Whooaaa that was long. Good thing all you have to do is copy and paste it XD~**

** Chapter Twenty Five**

"Shine?" Shadow breathed as his sister pressed a gun against his head.

There was the sound of the cot creaking as Shine got off it. "What do you want with me?" She snarled, not removing the gun.

"What are you talking abou-" Shadow was cut off when Kat and Tails came down the stairs, but holding some sort of fruit of vegetable.

Tails saw Shine up on her feet again and slowly set the strawberries he was holding down. "What's going on?" He demanded.

"That's what I want to know." Shine retorted, putting Shadow between herself and the two foxes.

Byrch came down the stairs, hearing Shine's voice. She saw Shine pointing the gun at Shadow's head and narrowed her eyes at Kat and Tails. "You lied to me?"

"No!" Tails insisted. He turned back to Shine. "I'm sure you're confused - After all, you haven't... been yourself for some time, now."

"What are you talking about, fox boy?" Shine snapped. "And choose your words carefully, or Sunshine over here is going to be eating bullets."

Kat narrowed her eyes and spoke to Tails, not taking her eyes off Shine. "Are you sure Mortuus left her?" She growled.

The gun was suddenly pointed at Kat, who's tail was puffed out like a pine cone now. "How do you know that name?" Shine demanded. The moment the gun was no longer pointed at Shadow's head, the black and red hedgehog got off the chair, gripped the handles and threw it into his sister.

Shine was knocked backwards, the gun flying from her grip. Kat hissed and dived for the gun, landing on her stomach, teeth gritted. She looked down at the gun and frowned. It was 'Celeste'. Didn't _she_ have Shine's gun?

"Dinner and a movie, first, Sunshine!" Shine flared her wings at Shadow, who was grudgingly trying to pin her down. Shine smacked him in the head with the edge of the leathery wing. Shadow stumbled and ducked the other wing that came at his head. He jumped back to Kat and Tails.

Shine straightened her back, glaring at Shadow, Kat, and Tails. "So are you going to tell me what's going on, or am I going to have to beat it out of you?"

Kat's tail tip flicked with annoyance, almost like a cat. "Enough of this, Shine. We can't go around killing each other."

"'Each other'? Hey, at what point do you think we became buddies or something?" Shine snorted arrogantly.

Tails frowned. "Do you... even remember us?"

"Sure I do. It's... Low Pants, No Pants and Sunshine." Shine rolled her eyes. She looked at Byrch. "And Pixie Cut, over there."

"You don't remember us?" Kat breathed.

"Bloody hell, I don't!" Shine snapped. "So am I interrupting your Daily Wine and Cheese Hour, or are we going to see some blood?"

Kat's shoulders sagged and her eyes filled with a look of complete unbelief. Shadow just glared and Tails narrowed his eyes.

"Well then..." Tails muttered. "This could prove a problem..."


	26. Chapter 26

**Sorry for such late updates... Lot of stuff going on...**

**"Blue Stahli - Bulletproof" (I don't know if you need it on repeat, I did only because I was writing it) To the line. I dunno at the line.**

**Hope this kinda makes up for delayed chapters.**

**Enjoy ~~**

** Chapter Twenty Six**

Shadow hissed at Shine as she ducked her brother's swipe, hitting him in the back with her wing as he passed. She rushed at him, dropped to the floor, and slid under his legs. As soon as she was underneath him, she flared her wings, sending Shadow flying.

Kat jumped to the side as Shine's wings lashed out at her. The fox muttered under her breath and leaped up the stairs of the basement, leading Shine out with her. "I can't fight her in such closed quarters!" Kat muttered to herself.

Meanwhile, Tails was helping Shadow up, who had a tear in his skin from hitting his head against the wall. "Shadow, stay still for a minute."

Shadow didn't respond, his gaze fuzzy from the head to the wall.

Outside, Shine jumped up, used her wings for a double-jump as well as a way to knock Kat over. Kat fell, but instantly rolled to her feet and backed away, fists up. Ash danced violently through the air from the disturbance.

"I know you don't really remember me," Kat growled at Shine "But I've improved since I was younger."

"Nice story." Shine rushed Kat, kicking up ash as she ran. "Tell it again." She hissed as she threw a punch at Kat.

Kat smirked and flipped over Shine, landing behind her. "You know," Kat said as she caught another punch from Shine "We used to be really close - Almost sister-like."

"Really? Fascinating." Shine jumped back from Kat, landing on top of the debris above the basement.

"Why are you fighting us, Shine?" Kat called up to her.

"Why _not_? I wake up and find you creeps keeping me in a basement with Sunshine of Lollipop-land. You think I'm not going to fight?"

Kat ignored her sarcasm. "What about before? You said something about Mortuus - Do you remember him?"

"Of course I do. You don't spend ten years with someone in an apocalyptic wasteland and then forget about them." Shine narrowed her eyes.

"A.. waste.. land?.." Kat frowned. "What are you talking about? You haven't been in an apocalyptic wastela-"

Shine stopped her there. "I've had enough of you, telling me what I am, what I've been through." She pulled out her gun and pointed it at Kat. "I'm _telling_ you what I've been through."

"Whoa, Shine, put that gun down!" Kat's eyes widened.

Shine huffed and pulled the trigger.

Kat screamed, covering her face with her arms, even though it wouldn't do anything. She cringed her teeth, expecting the searing pain of a bullet. But it never came. She opened one eye and looked in front of her.

Sonic the Hedgehog stood in front of Kat, grinning. He had two metal cuffs on his wrists, linked together by a thick chain. Kat's eyes widened.

"Sonic?" She gasped. "You got away from Mortuus? How?"

Sonic glanced at Kat over his shoulder. "Don't you worry about that - I think we have bigger things to deal with, right now."

Shine narrowed her eyes at Sonic and shot the gun again without hesitation. Sonic was ready, though - He brought his wrists up to his chest. It was a pure luck that the bullet ricocheted off his left metal cuff, cracking it and freeing his hands - Relatively.

The chain with the broken cuff hung limp on Sonic's other wrist. The blue hedgehog smirked and jumped onto the rubble with Shine. Her eyes widened as Sonic swung the chain, hitting Shine in the forehead. The metal cut into her skin and half her nise. Her eyes watered for a moment, then she slapped Sonic away with her wings. "Asshole!" She spat, jumping down the rubble hill after him. Sonic lay on the ground, dizzy from the impact of Shine's wings.

Shine jumped down next to him and used the spike on the end of her leathery wing to fork the ground, narrowly missing Sonic as the blue hedgehog rolled out of the way just in time. Shine struggled for a moment to pull the spike out of the ash-covered ground, then turned to Sonic. She raised her gun and pointed it at Sonic's forehead.

Before she could pull the trigger, Shine was pushed to the ground, wings pinned beneath her. Shadow sat on top of her, pinning her arms to her sides. "What the hell is wrong with you, Shine?" Shadow barked.

Shine glared up at her brother, then disappeared. Shadow fell to the ground, disturbing a layer of ash. Shine was behind him now. She went to pull out her gun and blinked when she realized it wasn't there. Shadow rounded on her, gun in hand.

"Stop. Fighting. Us." He growled, reloading the gun. At that moment, Tails came up from the basement. He saw Shine's eyes widen as Shadow got up, keeping the pointed at her face.

"We aren't the enemy, Shine." Kat assured, helping Sonic to his feet. Tails noticed Sonic and he rushed over to help. He would ask why he was here, but now isn't the time for questions.

Shine glared at Kat, slowly wiping blood out of her eyes. Shadow didn't let the gun waver once. Shine looked back at Shadow, not letting their eye-contact break.

"What do you want?" Shine growled eventually.

"What?" Kat frowned.

"What do you want from me? Why aren't you trying to just kill me?"

Tails stepped forward. "Because you're one of us, Shine - We're the good guys. We need you and you need us. You're weak right now because you were just in a coma. You were possessed by Mortuus and you haven't fully recovered." Shine looked at suspiciously ans Tails took another step forward. "You can trust us, Shine."

Shine glanced at Shadow, then to Sonic, who was swinging the chain around his wrist like a ball on a string. Shine stayed still for a moment, then straightened her back and looked Tails in the eye. "Fine." She growled.

"Fine, what?"

Shine cringed her teeth. "Fine, I will trust you - I'll have to... For now, anyways."

Sonic shrugged. "That little Smashfest was pretty fun though. You have to agree to that."

Shine just glared at him and wiped trailing blood off her face.

* * *

><p>"So how did you escape, Sonic?" Tails asked the blue hedgehog as Kat cleaned Shine's wounds. Byrch had been kept in the basement to avoid any... confrontations. Now, she was sulking outside.<p>

Sonic snapped the other half to the chain. "Mortuus is smart, but he doesn't always take into account my determination. I didn't know what he wanted with me - All I knew was that I had to get out of there, and fast."

Tails narrowed his eyes and looked up and out of the basement's hatch. "It certainly is fortunate that you're back - It's really helpful to have the whole team back together again."

Sonic nodded. Having Tails, Sonic, Shadow, Byrch, Kat, and Shine back into the same alliance again was goo and all, but how much power are they going to need to take down Mortuus?

* * *

><p><strong>Well, that was fairly short, but I hope it was good ^^ It was fun to write lol<strong>


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter Twenty Seven**

Kat and Tails were walking along one of the ash-filled cobble roads. They no longer had anything important to do, so they decided to take a walk while Shadow and Sonic filled Shine up to date on everything that has happened thus far. Shine, however, was having a hard to absorbing all of the information.

They hadn't heard anything from Mortuus since they got the group back together, but they're keeping all eyes open for him. They have no clue who he could be in now, but they were all trying to figure it out.

Above their heads, dark clouds were beginning to gather, heavy with rain water.

"Do you think this place is going to grow back?" Kat asked Tails eventually, shoving her hands in the pockets of her coat, kicking dust up with her feet.

Tails shrugged. "It's hard to say - This place does seem to have all the nutrients it needs to grow, but I don't think Mortuus will allow it."

Kat was silent for a moment, staring up at the rainclouds. "I wonder who he's using, now." She murmured after a moment.

"Maybe he's not in anyone. We know he's powerful enough to take his solid form, now." Tails looked up at the sky, too. He suddenly stopped.

"What?" Kat stopped too.

"Did you hear that?" Tails asked quietly.

Kat was silent for a moment, then frowned. "What is that?"

"I don't know..." Tails muttered, starting to follow the noise. Kat followed, too. Every few seconds, they'd hear it again. The closer they got, the more audible the noise became.

"Hey! I see you there!" The noise they were hearing was a voice.

"Is that... who I think it is?" Kat breathed to Tails.

Tails nodded slowly.

"_Hey_! Aren't you going to _help_ me?"

Tails and Kat pushed some gnarled metal aside. It looked like they stumbled into a crash site. Along the side of one half of the ship, which was very big, was a stencil marking. It covered in a layer of ash. Tails walked up to the ship's side.

"I noticed this ship here before, but didn't pay much attention to it. There's no way that anything can be salvaged from it, let alone anyone survive that crash." Tails murmured. "I didn't know what this ship was doing here, and I didn't know if I wanted to get involved." He started to brush the ash away with his hands, digging into the ash and pushing it away. He narrowed his eyes when he uncovered the stencil.

"What was _he_ doing here?" Kat growled.

The stencil was the classic red on black painted logo - Eggman's logo.

"I'm not sure." Tails muttered, dusting his hands off. "He disappeared five years ago, and we haven't heard anything from him since. We all thought - Hoped, actually - that he died, somehow. But what was he doing here?"

"Why don't you come ask me yourself, you schmuck?" The voice yelled irritably.

Tails blinked and pushed the metal aside, heaving it across the ground. The outside shell of the ship hungover the ground like a small cave. There was a lump in the middle of the cave-like area. It looked like a rock or something, but it had a small, circular light in the middle of it. Tails and Kat frowned and walked up to it.

"What is that?" Tails stared down at it skeptically, crouching beside it.

"Pick me up, dumb kid!" The lump shouted.

Tails exchanged a glance with Kat. She shrugged and Tails hesitated before picking it up. He brushed the object off.

"Oh, hello." Doctor Eggman greeted casually. "How have _you_ been holding up? Because I'm a potato."

Tails stared down at the little screen that was, yes, latched onto a large potato. On screen was the familiar face of Doctor Eggman, who sat in a swivel chair. He looked almost the same as when Tails last saw him, short of the silver hairs that lined his beard and the patches of dry blood stuck to his scalp.

"So, what's up, what are you doing? Getting killed? That's cool. Listen, I need you help." Eggman continued, still casual.

"One, we're not getting killed, two, what are you doing here, and three, what the _fuck_ is this all about?" Tails growled bluntly at the screen. Kat watched over his shoulder.

"As you may remember from Third Grade Science class, potatoes are otherwise known as an electrochemical cell, which means they conduct ener-"

"Eggman, shut up and get to the point!" Kat snapped.

Eggman let out a sigh. "Fine. I need to keep this particular piece of software running until I can get it to it's other part - Which is where you come in."

"What's stopping us from pulling this software out of the potato and frying it?" Tails narrowed his eyes.

"Hey, what happened to being all 'Happy and Sunshine'?" Eggman frowned. "Last time we spoke-"

"We've hardly spoken for ten years, Eggman."

"Exactly. Anyways, I need you to get the other part of the hardware."

"How the hell did you even get on this potato?" Kat frowned, taking it from Tails.

"I installed two miniature transportation devices on th-"

"You gave it tiny legs, didn't you?"

"... Maybe." Eggman waved his hand in the air. "Stop changing th subject, kid. I need to get the hardware before I drain the potato."

"Do you know where it is?" Tails asked. "Or where it might be?"

"Sorry, I can't really help you, there. I'm afraid if I think too hard, I'll fry this potato."

Kat frowned. "Don't you have to have a direct connection between your brainwaves and the potato to do that?"

"Indeed."

"And... do you?"

"Yes."

"... How?"

"You don't want to see. It's disturbing to look at, even for me."

Kat gagged. "Moving on... What were you doing here in the first place?"

Eggman was suddenly serious. "I had sent a scout ship out to investigate this area - It had come to my attention that Mortuus had recently attacked this planet, so I had to check it out. But when I got here, I too was attacked. Luckily, I had planned for the eventuality and created this little piece of software as a fall back plan. I don't Mortuus noticed the difference." Eggman leaned forward. "By the way, how's your friend Shine doing? Pretty good, I take it."

"She's not infected by Mortuus anymore, thank you very much." Kat spat at him.

Eggman smirked. "But...?"

"But what?"

"I have a feeling there's something else wrong. She's not infected by Mortuus anymore, but..."

"...But.. She..." Kat trailed off.

Tails took over. "But she's having some troubles remembering everything that's happened."

"Figured as much."

"Of course you did."

Eggman ignored his sarcasm. "So are you going to help me, or not?"

"I dunnooo..." Tails trailed off, looking at Kat expectantly.

Kat shrugged.

"Oh come on. Hundreds of weapons at your dispisal if you let me... help." Eggman frowned. "Wow. That sounded _really_ weird to say."

Tails sighed. "Fine. Besides, I don't see how much trouble a potato can cause. Anyways, we need all the help we can get when it comes to Mortuus - He affects all of us, not just us or you."

Eggman grinned. "Excellent. It's time to dispose of that pest once and for all." Tails and Kat started to walk away with Eggman-Potato, looking for this 'Piece of Hardware'. Eggman sighed as they walked. "I'm beginning to regret making Mortuus."

"What to you mean 'beginning'?" Tails muttered.


	28. Chapter 28

**~SUMMATIVES SUCK~**

** Chapter Twenty Eight  
><strong>

"I think it's over there,"

Kat and Tails stepped around a few scrap pieces of metal and stopped, looking down at the potato that the tiny Eggman screen was latched onto. Eggman looked at them innocently.

"Remind, me again, why we're doing this?" Kat hissed under her breath.

"Because if we don't, Potatoman, here, will somehow find his way back to us. And I really doubt it'll be to help us." Tails muttered. He held up the potato so Eggman could see where they were. "Is it anywhere near here?" Tails asked Eggman.

Eggman glanced around then nodded. "It's around here somewhere."

"Descriptive..." Kat looked around the wreckage then narrowed her eyes. A few feet beyond from where they stood was a large metal door that had sliced through the grassy and dirt, standing tall. It was surrounded by metal debris. "Over there?" She asked.

Tails showed Eggman the door.

"Ah, yes, over there!"

They walked up to the door, and Eggman clapped in the tiny screen. "It's behind the door somewhere! Throw me over the door."

Tails and Kat exchanged glances. "Don't you need us to get the hardware for you?" Tails asked.

"I'll just detach myself from the potato."

"You can do that?" Kat growled. "Why the hell are we carrying you around, then?"

"..."

"Give me that..." Kat growled, taking the potato from Tails. She drew her arm back, much like a baseball player would, and threw the potato over the top of the door.

Kat and Tails waited a moment, before they heard the potato hit the ground.

"Do you think that broke the screen?" Tails asked.

"I hope so..."

"What are you guys doing?" A voice said from behind them.

The two foxes turned around and watched Shine land gently on the ground behind them and fold her wings.

"Helping Eggman find his body." Tails said.

"... That's disgusting." Kat crinkled her nose at Tails.

"What?"

"Who's Eggman?" Shine asked.

"Oh yeah..." Tails muttered. He paused, opened his mouth, then closed it. He glanced back at the door. "Maybe we should let you meet him for the first time all over again."

"Sounds like fun. I like meeting new people."

"I'm sure you do..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing."

Shine opened her mouth to say something back to him, but was interrupted by Eggman. "I found it!" He called from behind the door.

The door suddenly burst from the ground, smoke replacing it. Kat, Tails, and Shine covered their faces from falling pieces of metal that came from the door. They lowered their arms and watched as a shaped stepped into the smoke.

"Eggman?" Tails called. "You alright?" Last time he checked, potatoes couldn't explode doors.

"Aah... This is much better." Eggman's voice came from the smoke. The shape looked as if it were crouching.

Shine narrowed her eyes as the smoke cleared - Then burst into laughter.

Standing on the debris of the door was a small robot. The reason it looked like it was crouching was because it was no taller than Tails' waist. It's tiny hands flexed. It had no mouth and the sound seemed to be coming from the dual screens that the robot used for eyes.

"Why... Why would you give a robot eyebrows?" Shine huffed between gales of laughter. "Why is it so small?"

The Eggbot crossed it's arms. "I need to conserve space, OK? And it has eyebrows so that it can have actual expressions." He sighed when the laughter continued. "You know, I blew up that door. I'm small, but strong."

"Oh, we know you are, pumpkin." Kat snorted.

Eggbot narrowed his eyes. Well, the eyebrows moved and made it seem as though they were narrowed.

Tails suddenly jumped away from the tiny robot. "Holy shit, they move!"

Eggbot's sigh was cut off by a drop of rain hitting the ash-covered ground in front of him. He looked up as the sky lit up with lightening.

"We should probably go..." He suggested frailly.

"Afraid of getting hit by lightening?" Kat grinned.

"Actually, yeah. And if I get hit by lightening, you all lose a really strong asset in you team." Eggbot growled smugly.

Tails exchanged glances with Shine then shrugged. "You take Eggbot over there, I'll take Kat."

Shine grinned. "C'mon, Eggy."

* * *

><p>Sonic stared at Eggbot, who stared back at Sonic. After a moment, Sonic said "So... Where've <em>you<em> been, Egg McMuffin?"

"None of your business."

"Plenty of my business."

"I see ten nothing has managed to put a dent in your ego, yet."

"Things start to _try_ to, but quickly give up."

"'Cause there's so much."

Tails looked away from the two as they continued to argue. He turned back to Shine, who was sitting on the steps of the basement with him, staring up at the rain as it washed the ashy ground.

She was silent for a while, until she said. "I should go, soon."

"What?" Tails frowned.

"I need to find this Mortuus person. As long as he's alive, more people will die."

"Shine, where's this coming from?"

"Mortuus obviously thought I was dead, so he's continuing to target you guys, which means I have to find him before he gets to you guys again." She paused, still not looking away from the rain. "Besides... I don't belong here. I'm not like you guys anymore. I'm different."

"Shine, you belong here - You're one of us."

"No. When Mortuus 'moved out', he took some of the 'furniture' with him. Besides, Mortuus can't know I'm still alive, yet. After the storm, I'll leave to find him."

Tails stared at Shine in disbelief. "But.. We just got you back after so long."

Shine shrugged. "I'll tell you what - After Mortuus is dead, I'll return."

At the foot of the stairs, Shadow, Sonic and Eggbot looked up. Kat peeked around the corner of the stairwell. "What if we need you now?" She asked quietly.

Shine went silent again, and stood up. "You know what, I'll just leave now - The storm has let up a bit, I should be good."

"But the group just got back together." Sonic frowned.

Shine ignored him and walked up the steps. "I'll see you guys around, don't worry." She said before stepping into the rain, unfolding her wings, and taking flight.

The whole room went silent.

"Well... This sucks." Eggbot broke the silence after a moment.


	29. Chapter 29

**...**

** Chapter Twenty Nine  
><strong>

"Well, we just lost Byrch _and_ Shine..." Tails muttered.

"Look on the bright side," Sonic offered "At least Shine will find Mortuus before he finds us."

Kat glared at him.

"Yeah, but there's a chance that Shine could be killed." Tails argued.

Shadow stood up from the cot. "Alright, look. if it really means that much to you guys, I'll look for her after the storm. In this rain, she couldn't have gone far."

"Right - I'll come with you." Sonic offered. "If you run into Mortuus, you don't want to be by yourself."

Tails watched Shadow as he huffed at Sonic and leaned against the wall, looking away.

"So, Sonic, you never did tell me how you escaped Mortuus." Tails said eventually.

"Oh yeah," Sonic was snapped away from his feud with Shadow. "He had left me in a room, just tied up in some chains. I guess he didn't think I could pick a lock. The rest was easy."

"It just seems so convenient that he'd let you go like that after going through all the trouble to get you." Tails muttered, almost to himself. "Maybe he wanted you to escape."

"Whatever. As long as I can keep my own head, I'm good." He glanced again at Shadow.

Shadow shot a glare at him, then straightened his back. "If you're shooting an insult at my expense, then I should remind you that you were the one he first killed."

"No, he killed me and left you for dead, thinking you already _were_ dead. Technically, you were the second one killed."

"'_Technically_', No. The second one killed by him was..." He frowned. "What was that city called? The one Byrch was from."

"Tazza?"

"Yeah, that."

Sonic narrowed his eyes - But shrugged and looked away. "Whatever..." He muttered in unison with Shadow.

* * *

><p>"The rain has stopped." Shadow announced, getting up. Sonic followed him up the stairs.<p>

"We'll be back in a few." Sonic said cheerfully.

Tails and Kat stared after them.

"Wow..." Eggbot said casually, and a moment. "Those guys are weird."

"You just noticed?" Tails frowned.

"No, but I thought It'd be good to state it, just in case you guys didn't notice."

"Do you think they really will find Shine?" Kat murmured quietly, almost to herself.

"I hope so." Tails said. "We need her and, frankly, she needs us."

Eggbot crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall, sitting cross-legged on the floor. "Will you two quit worrying? This is the first time in years that I've been able to walk around without-" He stopped, and looked away.

"Without what? Eggman, where are you?" Tails growled.

"It's none of your business."

"Would you quit saying that?"

"Maybe I'll tell you another day,' He laughed suddenly, obviously amused. "When we're not being hunted down by a psychopathic monster that wants the universe to himself." He was quiet for a moment. "You know," He said "It amazes me that my experiment can grow such feelings as hatred and anger. I only needed him to kill Sonic and Shadow, then you guys would be in disarray, but he went all out, eh?"

"Oh my god, just shut up..." Tails sighed.

"Hey, I'm just saying."

"Yeah, so am I."

"Both of you, quit arguing, you're both so annoying..." Kat growled. "We need to figure out what to do next."

"Well, once Shadow and Sonic find Shine, we should probably go to Mortuus' base and see if he's still there. If he's not, then we have to see if we can find any evidence as to where he might have gone."

"I like that plan." Eggbot said.

"It's the only plan we _have_, dumbass."

"I know."

"Eggman," Kat said after a moment, a plan formulating in her mind. "What are Mortuus' weaknesses?"

"Weaknesses?" Eggbot pondered for a moment. "Well, he seems more reckless when you aggravate him. I didn't really want him to have any weaknesses, so there kinda is none."

"So that's your plan? Aggravate the anger-management-laden psychopath so that he becomes reckless and we can't tell what he's going to do?" Tails looked at Eggbot skeptically. "Sounds perfectly sane to me. Oh wait, I have a better idea - Let's jump into a pool of sharks with an open wound on our leg. I _like_ _that_ plan."

"You don't have to be so sarcastic."

"I do, actually."

Suddenly, Sonic burst into the basement. "Come quick!"

Tails and Kat stood instantly, while Eggbot struggled to his feet. "What?"

"I've found Mortuus!" Sonic breathed, a slight grin of satisfaction on his face.


	30. Chapter 30

**.3.**

**Ohmahgod, I was re-reading this, and I was listening to "Riding on the wings of Steam (remix)" and I thought "Wow... dafuq am I listening to? It sounds like it belongs to this song D: " Lol**

** Chapter Thirty**

"Oh, what would you know?" Willow snapped at the rabbit who was examining his wounded arm.

"I'm telling you, Willow, it's fractured. You're going to need a sling, or something." She insisted, not bothered in the slightest by the long spiky hair that hung over her eyes.

"I'd like to see your medical degree before I take your advice."

"I don't need one to know that the bone in your arm is, quite obviously, fractured." She looked down at her legs and frowned. "Nice. Thanks Willow." Dried blood coated her jeans - Blood from his arm.

"Just give me the go-ahead to get out of here."

"No, I can't."

"But that damned hippy won't let me help until he gets your OK!" Willow let out an exasperated sigh. "Look, love, I'm going bananas in here. You need to let me out of here so I can do something that'll get the proverbial juices flowing in my mind."

The rabbit shrugged. "Sorry, _love_, but I gotta listen to Simon."

"Look, look, fine." Willow held out his injured arm, using his other hand to make a beckoning motion. "Here, put it in a sling and let me out."

The gray and red rabbit stared down at him, although it was hard to tell that she was looking directly at him, due to the fact her eyes weren't visible. Then she sighed. "Jennifer." She called.

"What." A voice replied.

"Go get a sling."

"We don't _have_ any."

"That's stupid."

"I thought so."

"Well, find something that can be used as one, like a pillow case, or something."

Willow frowned, watching the rabbit. Suddenly, the dented door to the infirmary opened, and Simon walked in. "Hey, man." Simon greeted Willow, who narrowed his eyes. Simon turned to the rabbit. "Hey, Bonnie." He nodded. The rabbit stared at him for a moment, then nodded.

"Bonnie... I feel like I know that name from somewhere..." Willow muttered.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Bonnie said, quickly turning to Jennifer, who returned with a thin blanket. She took it, ripped it and walked over to Willow, resting his arm in the sheet, and tying the loose ends at the back of his neck. "There. I give you the OK to go help Simon."

Simon smirked at Willow. "Good news and bad news... and... worse news. What do you want first?"

"Surprise me." Willow said dryly, getting to his feet and following Simon out the door.

"Good news is, I found a couple working escape pods. Bad news is, it only fits, like, twelve or fifteen people."

"What's the worse news, then?" Willow frowned, walking into the Blue Typhoon's bridge.

"The worse news is... People... _may_ have died. _May_ have."

"What?"

"Well, there are some people... who are kinda just lying on the ground... Not moving. So, unless they're playing a really good game of 'Graveyard', they're dead."

"Bloody hell, Simon..." Willow hissed.

"Hey, it's not my fault we crashed." Simon stated indigently. "It's stupid Mortuus' fault."

"Mhm."

"... I hate you, guy."

"The feeling is mutual." Willow growled. He looked down at the computer monitors. "So, where are we, anyways?"

"I'm not really sure, to be honest. Everything's kinda dead here, all burnt n' stuff."

"Did you think to check the map?"

"The.. ship has a map?"

"... You're a fucking twat." Willow sighed and accessed the radar on the ship, praying it wasn't broken. He frowned. "Uh... It says we're Mallum. Isn't that...?"

"Yeah." Simon frowned. Sudden realization dawned across his face. "Wait.. Mortuus attacked my planet!" He growled.

"The ship still has a pretty good radius of the radar, but I can't tell if there's anyone still alive other than who's on this ship. Which, frankly, is not a lot..." Willow muttered, half to himself. "We'll have to send someone out."

"Sounds like a job just for me," A voice said from behind them. Rouge walked into the bridge. Though she sounded optimistic, she looked grim.

"Right, then, Rouge." Willow confirmed. "Let's see what's out there, hm?"

Rouge held up a finger and tossed something to Willow, who caught it with his good hand. It was a communicator. He remembered it from when they were last on the Blue Typhoon. He looked back up at Rouge, who pointed at the little black watch-like device wrapped around her wrist.

"Just in case things go wrong." She winked, and left the bridge.


	31. Chapter 31

**Hurr durr...**

** Chapter Thirty One**

"You're sure it's Mortuus?" Tails stood.

"I'm positive - It's hard to miss the guy, he's, like, eight feet tall." Sonic made a hurry up motion with his hands. "Now c'mon, before we lose him."

"Where's Shadow?" Tails asked, slipping his leather gloves on.

"We split a couple of minutes ago to cover more ground. I was going to go get him, but we don't have time. I was thinking that when we get there, you guys can distract him and I'll go get Shadow before Mortuus realizes what's happening."

"Let's go, then." Kat fixed her sleeveless coat before following Sonic out of the basement, Tails and Eggbot at their heels. "I want to end this thing."

"So where is he?" Tails asked as they walked out of the muddy town, following Sonic towards a field.

"Just over here." Sonic hurried, trying to slow down for his followers. "You can see him perfectly from this little cliff thing, here, I found. I figured we could jump down and ambush him before he even knew what was happening."

They followed Sonic to a small cliff that was about ten or eleven feet tall, but a good mile or two long. Sonic stepped back to let Kat, Tails, and Eggbot check it out, standing on his tiptoes to see above the,

Tails peered over the edge. Below him was a sloping field that rolled on for miles, until it reached another crashed ship. He frowned. He thought he recognized the ship from somewhere. It was hard to tell - The paint and features were far too wrecked.

"Wow..." Tails breathed. "This place is bigger than I thought."

"Who's ship do you think that is?" Eggbot asked. "Is that where Mortuus is?"

"I'm not sure..." Sonic trailed off. "He was right here." His voice angered. "Where the hell is he?"

"I don't see him... Is this the right place, Sonic?" Tails frowned and rubbed his arms. They were quickly getting colder. "Are you guys getting cold?"

Kat narrowed her eyes and look down at the ground. A huge shadow had slowly slipped _under_ their feet. "Eh? What the?" She looked down, surprised.

Tails and Eggbot looked down too, confused.

Suddenly, there was laughter behind them. Tails froze as the laughter gradually got louder, then cut off.

"You people claim to be so smart, to have such high IQs... When the fact is... You're so naive, so stupid." Sonic snarled from behind them. "I really wish it didn't have to come to this, but you've given me no choice, guys. You chose this path."

Tails, Kat, and Eggbot all turned in unison. Sonic stood there, his shadow seeping _into_ the ground.

"Sonic?" Kat spat. Kat went for her gun, but stopped when a shadow intercepted her hands, flicking them away.

Sonic laughed. "Yeah, kid?"

"What the hell is going on?"

"Easy - My freedom." Sonic took a step forward, his shadow rippling as if it were water. He smirked when Tails' face fell. "What's wrong, kid? You recognize that phrase. Small phrase. _Powerful_ phrase. Now does it make sense?" Sonic continued to advance, very slowly. "How _easy_ it is to fool you schmucks. You trust every friendly face you see, don't you?"

"I'm thinking... We should probably run..." Eggbot whispered slowly.

"Yeah, no shit." Kat growled.

"It's pointless to run. He's-" Tails started but was cut off.

"Sonic the Hedgehog, fastest thing alive." Sonic grinned.

"Whatever. I wasn't about to run, anyways." Eggobt shrugged.

"You're fucking lazy." Kat spat.

"And _proud_ of it." Eggbot held up his pointy, metal chin in defiance.

Sonic took another step forward and the shadows began to dance up his legs, collecting in his fists, making his image hazy.

"I should have done this _years_ ago..." He snarled.

"Where's Shadow?" Tails demanded.

"Don't worry about Shadow - I've made sure that he won't show up unexpected, anymore. See, he and I had a little chat." Sonic growled, his eyes glazing white as he went Super Dark.

"What?" Tails took a step back.

"He's _dead_, kid. I made sure of that myself. He's not coming back anymore. I _killed_ him. Get it through your goddamned thick skull." Sonic clenched his fists, starting to walk towards Tails, Kat, and Eggbot. "Our good friend has finally bit the dust. He managed to avoid death this far - And you have to respect that ability."

Tails stared at Sonic, his eyes wide. The news of his old friend dying hit him like a jack-hammer to the stomach. He lost his breath, for a moment. "He's... dead?" He whispered. The only thing Tails was glad of, is that he managed to make amends with Shadow before he was murdered. "You bastard..." Tails hissed slowly, feeling ice take grip in the pit of his stomach, calming him, yet pumping adrenaline through his veins. "I'll..."

"That's right, kid." Sonic snarled. "He's gone - This time, forever. You and you're little _friends_ are next on the list, too." He raised his fist, ready to strike down on them, but stopped. The shadows suddenly flared and swarmed around him. His eyes widened and he fell to the ground, consumed by the darkness.

"What the-?" Kat started.

"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed, starting towards his old friend, but stopping when Kat pulled him back.

"He's not Sonic anymore..." Kat hissed to him, trying to remind him of what's really happening. She stopped and pointed at someone who was standing behind Sonic.

Shine stood there, gun in hand. She was holding a half burnt, half rain-soaked pillow on the end of it.

"Shine, what the fuck!" Tails exclaimed.

"Relax. It was Mortuus who I shot." Shine growled.

"No freaking shit, Sherlock!" Tails asked aggressively, but shook his head anyways. "No. It doesn't matter. Sonic was still possessed by Mortuus, and shooting Mortuus meant shooting Sonic."

"Seems like a small price to pay for intergalactic piece, huh?"

Tails opened his mouth to shoot another argumentative fact at her, but stopped. He heard laughter.

"Did you really think it would be that _easy_?" The mass of shadows purred. It rose, shadows trailing behind it. Most of the darkness slowly dissipate, revealing Sonic. Not even a scratch on him. Suddenly, the shadows whipped out, not hitting anyone. But Shine let out a cry of pain as the bullet she'd shot drove through her arm, exiting on the other side.

She glanced down at her arm, and hissed, tossing her gun and the pillow to the ground. She rushed at Sonic, faking to one side, then slicing his chest open with the tip of her leathery wing, which was more like a huge talon than anything.

Sonic grunted, but remained standing - He shot shadows out at her, sending her flying. She caught herself in the air and threw a fistful of Chaos Spears at Sonic, who attempted to dodge them. Luckily, one of them pierced his hand. He hissed in pain, but shot a tendril of shadows out at her and yanked them back, bringing Shine with them. She hit the ground with a yelp, and twisted around. The shadows released their grip on her and she was instantly on her feet.

Without delay, Shine was throwing punches and kicks at Sonic, blocking his shadows with her wings. But Sonic still managed to defend most of the attacks, lashing out with a shadow every chance he could. Shine suddenly grabbed Sonic by the shoulders, and thrust her forehead into his, confusing him.

"Let's go, now!" Shine barked at Tails, who grabbed Kat around the waist. Shine kicked Sonic aside, dazing him, and grabbed Eggbot, jumping off the cliff, letting her wings catch her. Tails followed her, glancing back at Sonic, who simply sat where he was. Tails blinked, and Sonic was gone, consumed by the shadows.


	32. Chapter 32

**Wash: "Wow, it's so small.. I expected it to be bigger."**

**North: "Yeah... It's small. But you'll be amazed by what it can do."**

**Wash: "I just can't get over how **_**small**_** it is... Does it get any bigger?"**

**North: "I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that's as big as it gets. But don't worry - You'll get one soon."**

**Wash: "... I hope mine isn't that small."**

**York: "Would you stop with that?"**

**Wash: "I'm sorry, it's just... weird..."**

**North: "Stop staring - You're scaring it."**

**Carolina: "My fucking god, would you guys stop it already?"**

**Theta: "I'm scared..."**

**Wash: You're small .3.**

**What did you think they were talking about, silly? XD RvB season 10 YAAAAY CAN'T WAIT TILL IT'S OUT ON DISK ~Companion Cube face~**

**EDIT: Story gets better after, like, the next two chapters lol  
><strong>

** Chapter Thirty Two**

"Did I hear him properly when he said that Shadow was dead...?" Shine asked abscently as she carried Kat, Tails carrying Eggbot.

Tails was silent, barely able to focus on flying.

"Yes." Eggbot was the one to finally confirm Shine's question in a grim tone.

"Such a shame.." Shine murmured, swooping down towards the ground, landing on the muddy ground with defined grace. She set Kat down, furling her wings back.

Tails stumbled to the ground, roughly setting Eggbot down - Who made an insulted sound that should have come from his throat. Tails stared blankly at the ground, his eyes dull as he trudged towards the water-sodden basement. Kat stared after him with pity-filled eyes. Shine simply ignored them and walked down the basement steps, too.

Not stopping, Tails sunk onto the cot, resting his head in his hands.

"Well, what now, kid?" Shine sat in one of the computer chairs, crossing her legs. "We don't exactly have any way of getting off this burnt dump."

Kat shrugged, sitting down beside Tails.

Eggbot raised his hand. Between him sitting cross-legged and having his hand up, he looked like a child. "Yes, I would like to propose that we go check out that crashed ship we saw earlier."  
>Shine just glanced at him with a look of utter disregard.<p>

"Well, it's a better plan than _yours_."

"I don't have a plan."

"Oh? Oh really? Wow, I didn't say that because you didn't not have a plan at all! THAT WASN'T INCOMPLETE AND TOTAL SARCASM AT ALL IT WAS."

"Jesus, I think I need a translator for that sentence. That was, like, a double, triple negative." Shine growled.

Eggbot's tiny metal eyebrows furrowed. "I hate you so much."

"The feeling doesn't change over here, buddy." Shine frowned.

Eggbot sighed and went silent for a moment. "I was thinking..."

"A disturbing notion..." Tails muttered, not looking up. At least he could still be sarcastic.

"_I was thinking_ about getting a synthetic skin for this body." Eggbot continued.

"A what..?" Shine narrowed her eyes at him.

"You know - A skin. I was thinking something intimidating. Like a lion. Or a dragon."

"A dragon..?"

"Yeah. Something that could deal some serious damage, y'know? I might have some of the equipment back at the crash site of my ship..."

"I'm not going with you." Shine growled.

"What? I can't go alone! I'm small, and fragile, and might get kidnapped or something..."

"That's probably the first time you've ever been able to say that, huh?" Shine shrugged.

Eggbot narrowed his eyes. "That was uncalled for."

"It was called for, trust me."

With a sigh of epic proportions, Eggbot got to his feet and hesitated before starting up the steps. "If I get attacked, I'm blaming you, you jerk."

"Looking forward to it..." Shine called back absently, her chin rested in her hand as she stared at the wall.

Eggbot snorted and disappeared up the stairs.

Tails, who still hadn't looked up, said "I can't believe him... He went way too far..."

"Don't worry..." Kat said, even though she didn't sound very confident. "We'll stop him. We just need to figure out where he's disappeared off to this time."

Tails finally looked up, his eyes cold. "The bastard has no allies, anymore. All the Metarex are gone and Eggman's working with us... And, unless he continues to reanimate the dead, then he's completely outnumbered..."

"Right.." Shine murmured in agreement. "So... Where would an experimental being with outrageous powers go to demonstrate his unlimited strength...?"

Kat paused the frowned. "Probably a nearby planet."

"Then we should find some mod of transportation off this planet so we can start moving, huh?" Shine looked from Tails to Kat.

"We could probably check that crashed ship to see if they have any salvageable parts. We might be able to make a small craft - With enough time." Tails put in absently.

Shine suddenly stopped moving.

"What..?" Kat frowned.

"Someone's out there..."

Tails and Kat looked up to the stairwell, narrowing their eyes. They heard heels clicking against the concrete.

Shine got to her feet, pulling her gun out. "Who's there?" She called.

"Relax..." Came a familiar voice. "..I'm not here to fight. I just came to return something that's yours."

Both Tails and Kat relaxed, though Shine remained tense.

Rouge walked down the last few steps, holding what looked to be a little dragon stuffy. It had small wings and crooked horns, it's eyes facing two completely different directions. It's mouth looked like it was stitched up, a small red tongue sticking out. It had tiny little claws, too.

Rouge held the green and yellow dragon doll up. "Here, take this." She tossed it to Kat, who caught it and instantly dropped it when it started to move.

"Hay." Eggman's voice came from the dragon, even though the mouth didn't open.

"What the fahk..." Kat breathed.

The little dragon got to it's feet, standing on all fours. "Oh! Oh hey, look! I can run on all fours, now, guys!"

Tails and Kat stared down at the doll, confused.

"So, this is my new skin. You like it?" Eggman asked. "Look, I have a tail, now." He added giddily, flicking the stubby green tail around.

"I found him wandering around outside." Rouge crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at Shine. "So, what's up? You possessed, or what?"

Shine hesitated before flicking her gun back into it's holster. "I'm fine." She muttered, narrowing her eyes back at Rouge. "How do you know about that...?"

"Uh... Sunshine? I was there, aheh."

"Rouge," Tails called, nudging the Eggman dragon away from him. "She's lost a lot of her memories. The only thing she remembers is Mortuus and Eggman."

Rouge blinked. "Oh. Well, then..." She held her hand out to Shine, smirking. "_I'm_ Rouge the Bat."

"Don't patronize me." Shine growled, clearly unamused.

"Why is no one fixated on my new skin?" Eggman cut in loudly. "I have wings, now."

"Yes, you're a flying omelet, now, you must be so proud." Rouge put her hands on her hips. "Anyways, I actually came here to bring you guys back to the escape pods - We need to get out of here."

"Escape pods?" Tails suddenly got up. "Wait... Did Simon... crash the Blue Typhoon...?"

Rouge looked uncomfortable.

"Goddamnit!" Tails hissed. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted that old man with the ship!"

"Whatever." Kat cut in. "As long as we can get off this planet."

Tails went silent.

"Where do you have to go?" Rouge asked.

"The nearest planet we can find." Kat said. "We think that's where Mortuus would have gone."

"Why..?"

"Power demonstration? We don't know for sure. We're just working on assumptions, here."

Rouge looked around the room. "Are you missing someone, or is it just me?"

Tails slumped a little, but Kat spoke for him. "Shadow was murdered by Mortuus - Who is possessing Sonic, right now. Shadow was blindsided."

"We're also missing Byrch." Shine said suddenly. "Did she go out looking for Shadow?"

Rouge went quite for a moment. "Come on. Let's get out of here... Hopefully we'll run into her along the way."


	33. Chapter 33

**So sorry about delayed updates :t My step-dad actually just had heart surgery. They couldn't save the heart valve, so now he has an artifial one and he's quite healthy : D But, yeah. This summer has pretty much sucked balls. The most I've been able to write is 'Would You Kindly?' and a story on deviantART (Yes, it's another Yaoi ;n; )**

**I'm trying to find the motivation to keep writing this, but school and life in general right now is just pissing me off :T And I know a lot of people are mad at me, right now lol I haven't been able to update Unique OR this...**

**EDIT: Like I said, it will get better ;.; these chapters are lame lol  
><strong>

** Chapter Thirty-Three**

Willow paced back and forth in the Blue Typhoon's bridge, glancing back at the radar every so often. Eventually, four small blips appeared on the screen. Willow narrowed his eyes. He turned, watching the doors, getting ready for when his friends... well, acquaintances... walked through it.

"Well, don't _you_ guys look cheery." Willow greeted sarcastically.

Tails pushed past him, going for the radar. "Where the _fuck_ is Simon?" He growled.

"I don't know. He walked off, not too long ago."

"Why the hell did you let him crash my ship?"

"I didn't let him - I was stuck in the Infirmary." Willow gestured to his arm. "The 'doctor' wouldn't let me out. I couldn't do diddly shit."

"Find Simon. Bring him to me. Hold him down... I'll slit his throat." Tails spat. The radar on the screen expanded so that the radius was larger. "He killed so many people."

"To be fair.." Rouge butted in. "Mortuus had attacked us - He had no choice in the matter."

Tails ignored her.

Kat walked up to the radar, frowning. "There's not many people left." She murmured. "As horrible as it may sound, though, it will make our escape easier." She turned to Willow. "Do you know exactly who's managed to survive?"

"No - We'll have to look around." Willow paused when Shine walked in. "You're..."

"I'm fine." She snapped.

"Where's Shadow?"

"Dead." Tails snarled.

Willow's eyes grew wide. "... What?"

"He's _dead_. Mortuus killed him."

"Oh." Was all Willow said. He turned back to the radar.

The bridge doors slid open and Simon walked in. His eyes widened when he saw his friends. "You're alright!" He sounded relieved.

"Simon," Tails turned to the panda, his blue eyes cold. "I am going to hurt you so much."

Simon instantly flinched away. "Hey, man - Not cool. I'm a pacifist. I don't deserve this."

"Both of you, calm down." Shine snapped. "I don't want to be here any longer than I have to be. Your arguing slows us down."

Simon glanced at Shine. "Heeey, it's you. Nice to see you not killing anyone."

"Yes, we're all so proud..." Shine muttered. "Tails, what's the closest planet?"

"Something called 'Lucius'. Very high-tech. Seems like a place Mortuus would go." Tails muttered thoughtfully, reading the results on the radar. "It seems undeterred, so far. What's he up to, I wonder..."

"Do we have a medic out there, looking at the injuries of the survivors?" Kat asked after a moment.

"That's just what I was going to have done, but I couldn't find Bonnie." Simon shrugged.

Kat's head snapped towards Simon. "Who?"

"Bonnie. Some rabbit."

With a twitch of her tail, Kat slowly looked back at the screen, her eyes distant and angry. "Where is she?"

"I don't know - I couldn't find her."

Kat opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Tails.

"Gather up all the survivors you can and put them on an escape pod set to another undeterred planet far away from Lucius." Tails ordered.

"Who put you in charge?" Willow growled. He shut his mouth and nodded when Tails shot a glare at him.

"I'm going with you guys." Simon announced. "You could use my help."

"You _do_ make perfect decoy." Tails muttered. "Shine, Kat, Byrch, Vector, Rouge, Espio, Simon, Eggman, Knuckles, and myself are going to Lucius." He ordered, heading towards the door. "This is going to get real ugly, real fast."


	34. Chapter 34

**Alright, bros, I got my coffee, got my music, and I got the tiniest motivation in me to get the story moving, again. I'm sorry I've not been updating... Long story short, I hat life. It still has it's moments, though : P**

**Took place at home:**

**Me: ~Rubbing eye. Trying to say "I can only rub my eye at home without people thinking I have pink eye." What I said~: I can only rub my eye at home without people pinking I pinky pink pink pink.**

**Simon: I know...**

**Me: You understood that?!**

**Simon: You and Kat are rubbing off on me =.=**

**~Earlier that day~**

**Kat: ~Trying to say "Just call me back when you figure out if you can go to the movies or not." What she said~: Justnfkjajjjgbj ngajo agodhaedurp...**

**Me: ~Understands perfectly~ Alright, call you back in a sec.**

**Kat: Kay.**

**And now, children, you understand why all my stories are retarded.**

**Oh, by the way... New character? Why the hell nawt.**

** Chapter Thirty Four**

The escape pods were large metal ships that reminded Kat of the X-Tornado. Luckily, these ships were built for fast movement through water and space, so it didn't take long for them to reach Lucius. Kat expected the planet to be ruined already, she expected the buildings to be toppled and the citizens crushed. But, oddly enough... the planet was perfectly fine.

And this was definitely against Mortuus' nature.

"Could this be a trap..?" Kat asked Tails, who was driving the pod. "Or.. Maybe he's not even _here_."

Tails shook his head. "He's got to be here. This place must have billions of people living here. He couldn't just pass up an offer like that." He suddenly flipped a switch and spoke into radio that broadcasted over the other escape pods. "We're about to hit the planet's atmosphere. Be ready!" He ordered.

"Got it." Shine's voice answered back a moment later.

"Already on it," Willow's voice came, sounding like a teenager who was told to do something.

Kat watched as Tails decreased the power of the engine as the planet's gravity pulled them in. The craft began to shake; Slightly a first, but it quickly became violent. "Is this thing going to hold?" Kat yelled over the commotion, struggling to have her voice heard.

"It's going to have to!" Tails ground his teeth, stiffening his shoulders as he struggled to keep control of the pod.

Kat gripped Tails' seat, trying to keep her last meal down.

Then it was suddenly a smooth ride, though the were still shooting down towards a body of water at a terrifying speed.

Kat's tail puffed up two times it's size. She smacked the top of Tails' head. "Pull up!"

"One sec," Tails growled, to busy concentrating on the water below them.

_Oh God, this is it. Mortuus has really made Tails crazy. He's going to kill us both..._ Kat cringed to herself. "Pull up!" She repeated.

"Bloody hell, Tails! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Willow spat over the radio.

Right before the nose of the ship dipped into the water, the pod shot straight up, towards the rest of the ships. The act sent a miniature wave of water flying into the air.

Kat sat in the back seat, trying to see if her heart was still in her chest.

"Show off," Shine growled over the radio, though there was a grin in her voice. Tails let out a slight laugh.

Kat snapped out of it and leaned forward. "Oh yeah, that was a real riot, alright! It's not like I needed that heart, or anything!" She sighed irritably and leaned back. Well, at least Tails could still joke around. That was something. "Where now?" She asked after a moment.

"We go where Mortuus is."

"Ok, I'll need a lil' more, please."

Tails smirked a creepy little smile. "We go where the party is."

Kat frowned, then looked at the city. In the night sky, a large tower stood out perfectly due to it's oddly bright lights and the horde of people inside.

* * *

><p>Mortuus was watching several black ships fly into the city, only to be lost behind the jungle of buildings. He grinned a little to himself, knowing he could have a little fun with this. He turned around and motioned to his little 'minion', if you will. "Tell the guards to let in anyone who's says they're here to see me."<p>

The long haired cow nodded and rushed off.

Mortuus watched her go, then buttoned his dress shirt up completely, struggling with the tie.

"Need any help..?" A velvety, seductive voice purred.

Mortuus didn't turned. "Ah, you're here." He tightened the tie's knot. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd show at all." He turned to face the speaker.

"Of course I would." A light blue cat with flamey red hair purred. She had some sort of fancy robes on, made of silk probably, and a gold band around her head. "I couldn't miss this for the world."

"It will be quite the party, don't you agree?" Mortuus grinned. "It's just not quite a party if you're not here, Virgo."

Virgo wrapped her delicate-looking, gloved arms around Mortuus neck, resting a hand on the top of his head. "Oh, stop; You're making me blush." She narrowed her purple eyes. "Shall we go join the others, downstairs?" She stepped away, using a full body mirror to preen her hair.

"I'll meet you there; I've got something I need to get." Mortuus walked over to where he'd been sitting. Sitting on the right armrest was a small, black object will a red button on top. It oculd have easily been mistaken as a pen.

Mortuus grinned to himself and twirled the pen-like object in his fingers before stuffing it in his shirt pocket, button side up. "_Now _I'm ready." He muttered with the glee of a child. He turned and headed downstairs.

It was time to throw one hell of a party.


	35. Chapter 35

** Chapter Thrity-Five**

Tails was looking out the window - well, it was technically a wall of glass - in the hotel room he, Kat, Eggman and Byrch were in. The city lights below reminded him of city the Chris lived in. He suddenly felt his heart drop when he realized a hundred and twenty years would already passed in Chris' world. Chris is dead. He wouldn't have lasted a hundred and thirty eight years.

The kitsune shook his head. Such a depressing thought. Though, he could be dwelling on worse things.

He heard the door to the suite open. "What are you, doing?" Simon asked irritably from behind Tails. "Your shirt is all messed up and you don't even have your vest on."

Tails turned and looked at Simon with cold eyes.

Simon had a tie and a red pair of pumps hooked on two fingers.

"You're creepy for knowing what size I am." Tails growled, gesturing to the dress pants and dress shirt he was wearing.

"Hey, you obviously haven't met my half cousin. Or my Second cousin; His name is Geoffery. Actually, you might-"

"I don't care." Tails cut him off. He pointed to the tie Simon had in his hand. "Is that for me?"

The dejected-looking Simon nodded and handed it over to him.

Tails turned back to the window as he slipped the tie and dress vest on. He could see the large party-filled building from the hotel room, the strobe lights and moving silhouettes clear in the night sky.

"Tails?"

Repressing a sigh, Tails turned and glared at Simon. Simon's purple his were sincere. "Look, man... I.. You have no idea how sorry I am. I tried to stop the Blue Typhoon from crashing, but Mortuus had just done too much damage for me to do anything."

Tails was silent, but his glare faltered. "I know," He muttered, sitting on one of the giant, luxurious beds.

Simon loitered for a moment longer, then walked over to the bathroom and knocked on the closed door. He left the shoes he was holding in front of the bathroom door and left the hotel room.

Tails laid back on the bed, staring up at the black-tiled ceiling. He had no idea if this was going to work. His plan, however, was to bring Kat, Byrch, and Eggman into the building where he thinks Mortuus is. Shine was going to circle the building, waiting in case something happened, and Willow was going to stay in a hotel room and access the buildings radio and database, if it comes to it. Simon is was going to keep lookout from Kat and Tails' room, contacting Willow when something happens. Kat had her gun and Tails had Shine's; They were pretty prepared.

The bathroom door opened and Kat walked out. Tails turned his head slightly and thought he saw a completely different person; Kat's hair was straightened and she had a lily-purple lace-up dress with matching shoes. She kept flipping her hair out of her eyes, trying to clear her vision.

Tails sat up, feeling his ears burn.

"Does it look OK?" Kat asked, still trying to fix her hair.

Tails coughed. "Er, you look fine." He avoided eye contact. "Where's Byrch?"

"Is there really no other way?" Byrch called softly from the bathroom. "I feel ridiculous."

"You look fine." Kat sighed.

Byrch hesitantly walked out. She wore a dress, the torso and waist black, and long sleeves that ended long before her hands did.

"It's made of some sort of reflective fabric that makes it look like she doesn't have any scares." Kat explained to Tails. "Where's Eggman?"

"He said he was having a word with Willow about the programing system." Tails got up off the bed. "So are we ready to go?"

Kat glanced around the room, then nodded. "I am."

"I have my blades." Byrch said simply. She really has been creeping Tails out. Before she died, she had... emotion. Now she just seemed like a robot. She always stared blankly, and she didn't put emotion in her words, anymore.

Besides that, Tails nodded. "Then let's go."

* * *

><p>Kat, Tails, Byrch, and Eggman casually stepped out of the large glass and metal elevator, immediately immersed in music and laughter. Kat glanced at the elevator's guard; A purple chameleon wearing sunglasses and a dress shirt with matching dress pants. He gave the group a subtle nod and looked in the direction of a large platform in the middle of the room.<p>

Kat looked up at the platform elbowed Tails, nodding towards the towering floor. A familiar blue hedgehog was sitting on a leather love-seat in the middle of the platform, talking to a tall cow with long hair.

"Let's go, shall we?" Kat called over the extreme noises. Tails nodded and walked towards a small, tiled platform with a fashionable steel railing surrounding it. A large guard, a lion, glared down at the group as they headed towards him.

"We're here to see Sonic." Tails called over the music and laughter.

"No pets allowed." The guard growled, his voice surprisingly deep. He nodded to Eggman.

"I'm not a pet!" Eggman snapped irritably. "I'm a tiny, silicon wrapped robot wearing a tie!"

The guard glared a moment longer, then moved aside. "He's waiting for you up there."

As the lift brought them up to the top of the platform, Kat could hear Eggman muttering angrily to himself.

The lift stopped and all the people at the top of the platform went silent, staring at the group.

Sonic - Or, rather, Mortuus - looked at them with wide eyes. Then he grinned. "Well, if it isn't No Pants, No Heart, No Friends and No Aim." He said, looking from Eggman, to Byrch, to Kat, then Tails. "So glad you guys could make it. Drinks, anyone? They have these beautiful things called 'Pina Collodas', here." He nodded to the cow. "Get five of those for me, will you?"

"Come with us and you won't have to die in front of all these people." Tails growled bluntly, walking casually off the lift and towards Mortuus. "I'm sure you'd rather go out in a dignified way."

Mortuus laughed. "What happened to small talk? We haven't even bantered, yet."

"I'll shoot you right here, Mortuus." Tails pulled out the revolver and trained it on Mortuus' chest.

Mortuus paused, along with everyone else on the platform. The DJ, a large, scaly crocodile, stopped the record, taking a vinyl from a bee with glasses and changing the song to something more fitting.

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you." Mortuus smiled simply. He touched a hand to his ear. "Lock this place down." He called to some unknown party. All music stopped and everyone went into a deafening silence.

Kat looked around and saw everyone was staring. She felt her tail fluff up. She turned back to Mortuus. "You planned this?"

"I didn't plan this. I more or less just set up fail-safes. I had no clue what you people were going to do. Besides... Planners are _Schemers_. I just _go_ with it." Mortuus fixed his crumpled dress shirt, then took what looked like a pen out of his shirt pocket. "I have to admit; I honestly, _truly_, didn't think you'd fall for this. If I'd known you'd let yourself be _this_ easily, I would have just dangled a turkey leg by a rope on the ceiling."

Eggman prowled up to Mortuus, stopping three or four feet away. "You know," Eggman growled. "I _made_ you. I can destroy you."

"Oh? So why haven't you, yet, old man?"

"Maybe I was just waiting for the perfect time."

"Or maybe you were just waiting until I let you go." Mortuus growled.

"What?" Kat narrowed her eyes.

"He didn't tell you?" Mortuus spun the pen around in his fingers. "I had him in a tiny little cell for the longest time. Quite surprised he survived this long, honestly."

"It's a bomb." Tails suddenly breathed.

"What?" Kat frowned.

Tails pointed to the pen Mortuus was holding. Kat noticed the tiny red button on the top of the 'pen'. She quickly pressed her hand against the little microchip in her ear. "Willow, we need an E.M.P. as fast as you can." She ordered.

"Willow... That little panther boy?" Mortuus asked thoughtfully. "Ah, yes. He can no longer speak with you."

"What did you do to him?" Kat spat.

"I don't know." Mortuus shrugged. "I'm not the one who neutralized him."

The cow returned with a tray of drinks, warily walking up to Mortuus. He took one of the drinks and casually sipped from the straw before returning his attention back to the four heroes. "You're probably wondering why these people haven't tried to kill me yet."

"Not really."

"Well, I'll tell you why, anyways." Mortuus sat down on the love-seat. "They think I'm Sonic the Hedgehog. They think I'm some big hero with a plan to keep them safe. They heard all these grand stories about Sonic and decided to treat me like a god. Which, surprisingly, worked to my advantage."

Three people walked to Mortuus side; A deer, a monkey, and a rabbit.

Kat's eyes widened. "You..." She growled.

It was Cerae, from Mallum, and Jennifer and Bonnie from the Blue Typhoon.

Bonnie just smiled, her eyes covered by long brown hair. "Hey, there, Katherine."

Kat just growled, clenching her fist.

They were literally up against what seemed like an army, now, without any outside help.


	36. Chapter 36

** Chapter Thirty-Six**

Willow heard a knock on the hotel door. He looked at his computers he had set up, then at the door. "Eh... Hello?" He called. There was only another knock. He sighed. "I guess they should be OK for a couple seconds." He muttered, getting up from the computer chair. He opened the door, expecting to see room service or something.

Instead, light blue cat with dazzling red hair stood in the doorway. She wore expensive-looking robes, delicate gloves, and a golden ringlet on her head. "Er, hello?" She greeted with a velvety voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't know someone was in this room.. Actually, I'm a little lost. Can you help me, please?"

Willow blinked. "Oh, sure. I understand, this hotel is like a jungle. Just let me... do something real quick." He rushed back in, turning towards the T.V. room. "Simon!" He snapped at the panda, who was lounging on the couch, watching T.V. "What are you doing?"

"Watching T.V?" Simon tried to peer around Willow, who was standing in front of the T.V.

"Well, stop." Willow unplugged the Television. "I need you to watch the computers and find me if something comes up. _Don't touch anything_."

"Where are you going?" Simon sat up.

"I'm helping someone, real quick." Willow walked back to the door.

"Who?" Simon frowned, following him to the door.

Willow opened the door and heard a slight noise from Simon that sounded like a puppy. "I'll be back." Willow stepped out.

As the door slowly closed, Willow could hear Simon still talking to him. "O-OK. You, uh... do that, Will. I'll... Hey, my name is Simo-"

Willow closed the door quickly before Simon could continue.

"Is he going to be OK?" The cat asked curiously.

"Him? Yeah, he'll be fine. He's... not quite right in the head, you know? Like a little kid. His first cousin has gone to custody numerous times for nasty things. I fear it's rubbed off on him." Willow sighed. "Enough about that moron; What is it you need?"

"Oh, I just can't seem to find my room." The girl looked embarrassed.

"What number is it?" Willow shoved his hands in his pockets.

The girl laughed a little. "It's, uh.. It's number six-six-six... How odd, hm?"

"Quite. I thought you were stuttering for a minute, there." Willow laughed. "Alright, the floor we're on has rooms five-hundred to six-hundred. We need the floor above us."

The girl laughed. "Tell me, Willow. What does my perfume smell like to you? I've haven't quite figured out the scent, yet." She held a hand out to Willow.

Willow frowned and hesitantly sniffed the silky glove on her hands. "It almost smells like... Mumzies and Marigolds."

"I thought so, too." She smiled.

Willow started to smile, but felt the muscles in his face falter.

"What's wrong?" The woman's smile widened. "Feeling.. light headed? Weak?" She watched as Willow swooned, then fell to his knees.

The girl bent over. "There's no need to kneel at my feet, Willow."

"How do you know my name...?" Willow managed to hiss before collapsing.

* * *

><p>Willow woke, blinking a haze from his sleep. He was in a black room with a single fluorescent light shining onto him. His hands were bound behind him, tied to the plastic chair he was sitting on. He coughed. "Hello?"<p>

"Oh! Goody. You're awake..." A familiar voice made his ears twitch.

"What did you do to me?" Willow growled, looking around for the cat.

"I feel insulted..." The girl walked out of the shadows of the room, though it seemed impossible to hide in the thin darkness. "I wouldn't harm a hair on your little head."

"Who _are _you?"

The girl smiled sweetly. "I'm Virgo. Virgo the Cat." She seemed to summon a feathered arrow from thin air. The arrow left a slight image of it's self as she twirled it around her fingers. It appeared as though it was made of mist. "And _you're_ Willow the Panther. A smart little bloke, aren't you?"

Willow watched her intense, purple eyes. "What do you want from me?"

"Huh?"

"You must be new to hostage taking. The average hostage-taker uses their hostages for something. Always. No exceptions. So what do you want?" He sighed. Was he really explaining this? "Otherwise, you would have killed me."

Virgo blinked. "My, aren't _you_ blunt?"

"Just tell me what you want, you dumb bitch." Willow spat.

Virgo narrowed her eyes. In a flash, the arrow had whistled past Willow's neck, tearing the collar of his shirt. The arrow stuck into the plastic, then began to evaporate, melting the plastic.

Willow just sat, paralyzed with fear, knowing how close to death he just was.

"You know," Virgo growled, the sweetness gone from her voice. "I think I _will_ have a little fun. I _was_ going to just leave you here for your friends to find you... But, you know what?" She stalked towards Willow, like a cat hunting it's mouse. "I have about twenty minutes. I think that's enough time for me to have a little time with you."

She used her index finger and thumb to lift Willow's chin. "You're just cute enough to gobble up, now, aren't you?"

"Don't touch me."

"You don't want to play a little game with me?"

"Unless it's a game of Scrabble, then no."

"Maybe it's time you've learned a new game." Her smile was captivating. "One that doesn't need a board and tiles of letters."

"Get away from me." Willow growled.

Virgo blinked. "You're really an odd little kitty, aren't you?"

"Get your hands off me."

She stared at him for a minute. "Are you gay?"

Willow's eyes widened and his ears burned. "W-What?"

"I'm usually quite good a seducing people, especially those I've just met."

"N-no! I just have the mental capacity to push past it!"

"Whatever, kitty." She glanced at her wrist. "Look, I'll just go early."

"Fine! Get away from me, you bloody harlot!"

She just waved as she walked off, out of the room, closing the metal door behind her.

[here]

Virgo entered the large building that throbbed with music. Looks as if their little guests hadn't shown up, yet. How uncannily late they are.

As soon as she entered the elevator, she felt the space she was in grow cold. "Hello, Bonnie." Virgo greeted dryly. "I assume you have news.

Bonnie, a tall rabbit with long gray and red ears and straight brown hair that covered her eyes, nodded. Shadows whipped around her, then died as the teleportation wore off. "Mortuus wants you to go to the upper floors. He believes that's were they will go to escape."

"Fine."

There was silence. Then Bonnie spoke. "Is Katherine really going to be there?"

"If all goes according to plan, yes."

"And if not?"

The elevator stopped and Virgo got ready to leave. "Then I owe you one."

Bonnie followed her out of the elevator. Virgo continued to speak. "Do me a favor, will you? When you see Mortuus, tell him one of Katherine's little idiots are flying around outside."

"Yes, Mistress." Bonnie stopped. "We'll meet you within the hour." She said before she was enveloped by the shadows.


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter Thirty-Seven**

Tails glanced over at Kat, who was glaring at the three newcomers. "You... _know_ them?" He frowned.

"Let's just say we have a... history, of a sort." Bonnie didn't look away from Kat, letting shadows curl around her fingers. Tails noticed she had black rings around her wrists... Perhaps that was the source of her power?

"It's been a long time." Bonnie continued. "And we have a few scores to settle. Cerae, it appears you won't be able to avenge yourself, hm?"

Tails remembered that Shadow was the one that killed Cerae, and since Shadow is dead, she won't be able to seek any revenge.

"Do you know what the hell you're helping?" Kat growled at Bonnie, clenching her fists. "This universe is going to be destroyed; You _you're _going to be held responsible for aiding the enemy."

"The hell do _you_ know?" Bonnie snapped. "I'm just doing what I have to to get by. If that means killing a few people, I'm alright with it."

"Don't you mean a few _billion_ people?"

Mortuus' left eye twitched and he quickly got to his feet. "Ladies, ladies, retract those claws. There's enough of me to go around." He held his hands out in the 'stop' motion.

Eggman scoffed. "Lord only knows..." He muttered.

"What did you just say?" Mortuus growled.

Eggman glared up at Mortuus defiantly. "Does it matter?"

Mortuus muttered something under his breath, then whipped a shadow out at Eggman's little dragon-bot. He picked the extension up by it's tie, bringing it close to his face. People around him started whispering, barely moving as to not be noticed by Mortuus.

"You will speak to me with respect, you little crap." Mortuus growled.

Eggman let out a slight laugh. "I'll never respect something like you, you _moron_."

Mortuus glared at him. "I'm _not_ a _moron_." He hissed angrily. He moved the dragon slightly away from him. "This sentence is false."

"True."

Blinking confusedly, Mortuus frowned. "Not too informed about logical contridictions, are you? Alright... New mission: Refuse this mission."

"False."

"If a set contains all sets, does it contain itself?"

Eggman went silent for a second, then a could sparks flew out of the eyes of the robot, smoke emanating from the tiny dragon. Mortuus let out a grunt and tossed the now-useless robot away.

"Oh well, back to business, I suppose." Mortuus shrugged.

Suddenly, all the lights fizzled out, leaving everyone in complete darkness. The party goers began to freak out, but Mortuus said nothing, calmly examining the situation.

From behind Tails, he could hear Vector, Espio, and Charmy talking. "Come on! Willow did this for us to get away."

Tails, Kat and Byrch quickly followed them. "I thought Willow was... neutralized?" Kat asked.

"He must've gotten free." Vector led them to the lift.

"Where are we heading?" Tails asked as the group pushed past fretting people.

"Top floor; There's an escape route we can follow to the roof, where Shine is waiting." Espio explained.

"Willow we need to get the elevator working; No lights." Vector said in the darkness.

The elevator quickly moved up the shaft, eventually stopping at the top floor. This floor appeared to be for apartments.

"Let's go, hurry up." Vector rushed down the hall. "We don't have much time before they figure out what's going on and get the lights up again."

The group rushed down the hall, their rushed footsteps echoing hallow in the empty floor. There was a sign at the end of one of the hallways with bright red letters 'EXIT'.

"Is Shine going to be able to carry us all?" Charmy asked as they ascended the staircase to the roof.

"Probably not. I'll have to help carry a few of us." Tails panted. He regretted not working out once over the past ten years.

They burst onto the roof, the wind immediately hitting them like a wall. "Where's Shine?" Kat called over the whistling of the wind.

Vector looked around. "I-I can't find her.."

"You guys aren't even _fashionably_ late." A voice said from behind them. It was a tall, thin, light blue cat with flamey red hair and purple eyes. She wore expensive looking robes and matching gloves, and a gold ringlet around her head.

Kat took a step back. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I think _now's_ a good time as any to tell me what's going on." Tails looked from Kat to the woman.

"I'm Virgo." The cat held her hand out as if she want Tails to kiss the top of her hand. "How lovely it is to meet you all. I've heard too much of you."

Mortuus walked out from behind her. "Let's get this moving along. I have somewhere I want to be." He pulled the pen-shaped bomb trigger from his front pocket, then gripped Virgo's hand. "I guess this is good-bye, kid. We've had a good.. _run_. Ba-dun tsch!" He grinned then pressed the little red button, taking off a Sonic-speed, taking Virgo with him.

Tails, Kat, Byrch, Vector, Espio and Charmy were already leaping for the side of the enormous building as the first few explosions erupted behind them, caving the roof in.

A large, winged object shot towards Vector and Byrch, taking off with them. Tails snorted, looking over at Kat, who looked just as terrified as him. He struggled to reach her, then pulled her close. He startled his twin tails, spinning them in a propeller-like fashion. Their descent began to slow. Charmy was gripping Espio's horn, keeping the chameleon from falling.

"Watch out above you!" Tails shouted over the whistling wind. Debris was chasing them, as if to see who would get to the ground first.

Below them, Tails could see Mortuus as he zipped down the streets, disappearing behind the buildings.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" Kat yelled over the sound of exploding concrete and glass. She didn't sound very surprised.

"Probably."

"We'll meet up with you guys later!" Charmy called. "I can't hold Espio for much longer! I need to go to one of those buildings." He nodded to one of the buildings that were within landing distance. "We'll watch out for debris!"

Tails wanted to sigh, but he was afraid he would lose all his breath if he did. Below them, the ground was still very far away, but getting closer at a faster than anticipated pace.

Glass fragments cut into their arms as the debris caught up with them. It was going to sting like hell later. If there _was_ a later.

"What the hell do we do now?" Kat called.

Tails opened his mouth to say something, but the two were quickly whisked away. Tails glanced back and watched as a large piece of concrete fell through the air they just were. He looked back at Shine. "Thanks for getting us first." He said dryly.

"No problem, Boxers." Shine replied just as dryly. She looked down as she shot like a bullet through the air. There was a black car - an open-roof car - on the road beneath them. "This is your stop, kids." She let go of them and curved up back into the sky, towards the building where she set Vector and Byrch down.

"What the hell?" Kat sounded outraged. The car started to move, following their shadows.

Tails gripped Kat, using his tails to slow their fall. With a loud _thump_, they landed in the back of the car. "Are we in a _car_?" Kat exclaimed, gripping the leather seats like her dear life depended on it.

Without an answer, the driver skidded down the road, narrowly dodging oncoming traffic and falling debris. Tails glanced behind them and watched as other cars swerved, avoiding the falling pieces of building, quickly turning to get away from the danger.

"Thanks for the help," Tails called to the driver. "Sorry we.. kinda landed in your car."

"My pleasure," A familiar voice replied kindly.

Tails stopped. There was a tinted window between them and the driver, but didn't need to see to know who it was. "Oh my god.." He breathed.

The window rolled down and the driver glanced over at them, trying to focus on the road at the same time.

"Surprise," Shadow the Hedgehog greeted with a slight grin.


	38. IMPORTANT

**Important:**

This story is… *Sighs* discontinued. No motivation.

_**HOWEVER.**_

Do you know what?

_**I've decided I'll rewrite the whole trilogy.**_ Don't know when, but I do know** it'll be…. Different. Hopefully, a good different. **Writing the whole thing over again will probably give me motivation to finish.** I'll be introducing new characters and plot twists – If you're one of the hardcore Dry Blood Trilogy lovers, you'll recognize some of the new characters.**

I've re-written Unique (kind of) and been getting a lot of complaints to rewrite this… so… I decided it would be good, anyways, since it's a 2 year old trilogy that is so terrible when I go back and read some of it.** I WILL KEEP THE OLD COPIES UP FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS IT.**

I'll leave this up here for a while, prolly till next semester, then take it down. The Fractured Bones descript. will be labeled as 'Discontinued.

**Looking forward to seeing some familiar faces, characters, memories and feels. For me, it'll be like a trip down memory lane…. An ugly, painful,nose-curling trip. But I also look forward to seeing new faces, new people, new feels.**

**For you, it'll be a refreshment compared to the old novels, where things may as well have started off with "It was a bright and sunny day…" You'll either thank me for fixing all the mistakes or hate me for changing it a little bit.**

**EDIT: For anyone who got pissy because I didn't update, please realize that I have a life, too - And it, for quite some time, it wasn't all sunshine and lollipops. So before you say something like "Oh, but that's no excuse for not updating..." All I have to say is "NO. FUCK YOU!" in the words of the great man Cryaotic. I'm not going to update just because you asked. If I take a while to update, it's because I have no time because of something in real life, or because I want that chapter to actually be good. QUANTITY OVER QUALITY. /EDIT  
><strong>

Well...

I guess that's all I have to say, for now.

Catch you on the flipside…

You all have a good one.

***Salutes* Until then.**


End file.
